Problems Due to Spam

w    90% find spam very or somewhat annoying (Source: Harris Poll Dec. 2003)

w    60% of January 2004 email was spam (Source: Brightmail Jan. 2004)

w    Spam costs companies $20 billion worldwide, and costs are growing 100% per year (Source: Basex Dec. 2003)

What Makes Email Spam?

w    “Email users are not entirely clear on just what is spam” (Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, Oct. 2003)

w    Adjectives describing spam: Automated, Bulk, Mass, High-volume, Untargeted, Unsolicited, Commercial, Objectionable, Unwanted, Irrelevant

w    Many recipients like relevant email, even if unsolicited

n     “7% of email users report that they have ordered a product or service that was offered in an unsolicited email” (Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, Oct. 2003)

w    But irrelevant email is “spam”

w    How can we distinguish the two?

w    The answer: only recipients can determine if email is “spam” to them

n     Every statistic about spam is questionable

n     Any effort to regulate spam—legislative or technological—will block wanted emails and miss unwanted emails

What Makes Spam Special?

w     Recipients are less tolerant of irrelevant emails than irrelevant ads in other media

n       Every medium provides some recipients with irrelevant ads

n       Every medium requires recipients to sort content from ads and wanted ads from unwanted ads

n       Other media deliver irrelevant ads to our home

w     We are still trying to understand why spam earns special wrath

n       Until we do, laws protecting recipients from spam may not solve the problem

The Real Harms of Spam

w     False/deceptive emails

w     Emails infringing third party trademarks

w     Emails containing obscene/child pornographic content

w     Emails a service provider doesn’t want to carry

n       Especially when the provider is not getting paid to carry them

w     Service providers targeted by forged routing information