Forty Percent of All Email is Spam

PCOL writes "There's an interesting article on spam in today's Washington Post which includes an inside look at AOL's spam control center in Northern Virginia. The story reports that roughly 40 percent of all e-mail traffic in the US is now spam, up from 8 percent in late 2001 and nearly doubling in the past six months; that AOL's spam filters now block 1 billion messages a day; and that spam will cost U.S. organizations more than $10 billion this year from lost productivity and the equipment, software and manpower needed to combat the problem."

Comments

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[mattboston]

call your congressperson and have them pass an anti-spam bill. that's the only way to solve this problem

Why don't I get spam ?!?

[rhfrommn]

I don't know how you people all get so much spam. Seriously!

I don't do ANYTHING right according to what you are supposed to do to avoid spam. I use the same Yahoo account I've had for 6 or 7 years. My username is only 8 letters and contains both my initials and home state abbreviation in it. I use that address EVERY TIME I sign up for anything on the web or when I buy something online or whatever. My wife and sisters send me free greeting cards quite frequently using that address. I don't use Yahoo's "bulk mail" folder or "this is spam" button, and haven't turned on any filters.

And still, I only get 2 or 3 pieces of spam a day, at worst. Compared to 10-20 legit pieces of mail.

I don't get it? How am I magically not getting spammed when all the people who are so pissed about spam and are actively trying to protect themselves get tons of it? I'm not denying that OTHER people have major problems with spam, I'm just amazed that I don't and can't figure out why.

ps. Please don't get pissed and add me to some spammer list or anything! I am seriously wondering what it is that makes me appaerntly immune to the problem. If I could figure it out maybe I'd have a useful suggestion for everybody else.