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Nearly half of all e-mail messages sent are spam, according to research conducted by the British ISP BT Openworld and antivirus firm Brightmail, and the spammers' favorite day to stuff your mailbox is Thursday.

Studying Spam

BT monitored more than 25 million e-mail messages sent by its customers over a two-week period in March. It found that nearly 11 million--41 percent--of the messages were junk e-mail.

More than 4 million spamming incidents were identified on Thursdays, making it the most popular day of the week for distributing unsolicited e-mail.

"The problem with spam is well documented, but to get close to the 50 percent mark is astonishing--and the figure can only increase," says Duncan Ingram, managing director at BT Openworld.

"The best option users have is to protect themselves. That way they can continue to use e-mail as an effective communication tool without being subjected to the irritation and hindrances that spam brings," Ingram says.

Varied Efforts

Concern about junk e-mail seems to be at the top of government and industry hit lists right now.

Microsoft, America Online, and Yahoo recently announced that they're teaming in a spam-fighting partnership. AOL has taken a tough stance with antispam tools in its AOL 8 client, and has taken spammers to court. Also, legislation in several countries and the European Union have all pushed the issue to the fore.

"I can't think that it helps anyone in any activity to have their computer flooded with some of this quite distasteful material," said UK science minister Lord Sainsbury, speaking at a recent antispam event.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission hosted a conference last week to discuss the problem. The convention closed with the commission calling for immediate action, though what this action would be was uncertain.

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