U.S. E-Mail Users Adjust With Spam

While spam emails increasingly inflict e-mail inboxes, U.S. residents are beginning to accept them without complaints.

In the U.S., 37% of e-mailers complain of receiving a lot of junk e-mails in their personal accounts while 29% say their work accounts have increased. About 50% think there is no change, according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The project released its study on May 23, 2007, as reported by 6abc.com on the same day.

The survey further revealed that 55% of e-mail users had lost confidence in e-mail because of growing spam. But they have not stopped using it. However, e-mail practice is declining not so much for spam but because there is a next-Gen shift. In the meantime, 28% of U.S. citizens using the Internet no longer consider spam as a problem, while the number was 16% in June 2003.

Maybe, it's becoming a pattern of life on the Internet said Susannah Fox, associate director with Pew. Once people get used to the spam, they feel they should not complain and carry on, even if they are still displeased with it, Fox said in a statement. 6abc.com published Fox's statement on May 23, 2007.

According to Pew, spam delivering pornography that users find most disturbing is apparently declining in comparison to promotions for drugs and money earning opportunities. Scams trying to steal sensitive information such as passwords are also very high.

One reason why users are not worried is that they have better systems to block spam. The survey carried out on 2,200 American adults discovered that 71% of users of e-mail deploy some form of spam filters.

In addition, users are getting more aware and knowledgeable about spam, being able to recognize it and not click on all e-mails.

Pew polled 1,405 people of whom 63% said e-mail using is unpleasant or annoying by the number of spam mails. This percentage has come down from 67% in 2005, 77% in 2004 and 71% in 2003. In the 2003 study 25% of survey participants said spam was a huge problem as opposed to just 18% in the new survey.

Related article: U.S. Businesses Lose $712 Per Worker Due to Spam

» SPAMfighter News - 6/2/2007