Yahoo kicks off anti-spam campaign

Email users are being asked to trash junk mail as Yahoo kick off the first global anti-spam day of protest.

Unsolicited junk email, spam, is credited with contributing to worker stress, but also now internet experts are warning that as a marketing tool it may be becoming unusable. Estimates of time lost to business indicate that the costs of spam may be running well in excess of £5 billion a year, yet even this may be a conservative figure as email addresses are bombarded with unwanted and inappropriate emails advertising everything from low-rate bank loans to subscriptions for free porn.

The internet service providers, already blocking millions of cloned messages every day, warn that at least 40 % of all messages sent are spam. This rate that is now so high that email may become unviable as a method of communication unless radical steps are taken against spammers.

While the UK government’s e-commerce minister, Stephen Timms, is aware of the problem, and has endorsed the anti-spam campaign, he was quick to point out that the problem is a global epidemic.

“Nobody wants inboxes full of irrelevant emails, but unfortunately spam is a growing problem the world over," he said.

"Not only is it a nuisance but it is also eroding people’s trust in using email.”

He added that email had revolutionised communication and that spam should not be allowed to “get in the way”.

Research by Yahoo has revealed that many computer users are not aware of how to treat spam emails and are actually perpetuating the problem by replying to spam. This only serves to confirm that the email address is active and will guarantee that the address receives yet more spammed emails.

Yahoo have encouraged users to report the most prolific offenders to dumpthejunkaward@yahoo.co.uk.

While there is no sure way of avoiding all spam:

• Don’t place your primary email address on a public website
• Subscribe to any filters offered by your ISP
• Use a unique email address that avoids common names
• Don’t reply to spam that encourages you to “unsubscribe”
• Only subscribe to legitimate email news services and alert services

Today at a congressional hearing on the issue Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in a letter to a US senate committee recommended a combination of legislation and self-regulation. Gates said that would propose a trusted seal on email that would certify sent email before it was accepted. He also mooted a global independent trust authority that would be charged to draw up and regulate a code of best practice.

(SP)