User Annoyance Grows Along With Spam

Users' dissatisfaction with e-mail is on the rise because of spam, and recent legislation appears to be doing nothing to curb the influx of the electronic junk mail, according to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

The survey shows that 86 percent of e-mail users reported some level of distress with spam.

Antispam vendor Postini says spam accounts for nearly 75 percent of all e-mail traffic today. The influx is taking its toll on e-mail users, who continue to see their in-boxes bloat with unsolicited e-mail.

Cutting Back

In the study, 29 percent of e-mail users say they have reduced their overall use of e-mail because of spam, an increase of 4 percent over last year. And 63 percent says the influx of spam has made them less trusting of e-mail in general. Last year, only 52 percent made that claim.

To highlight the impact that spam is having on the Internet, 77 percent say spam makes the act of being online unpleasant and annoying, which is up from 70 percent last year.

Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project, concluded in the survey conducted last month that the vast majority of e-mail users are not getting much help from the CAN-SPAM Act, the nation's first antispam legislation.

The study's results were based on a national phone survey with 2204 American adults, of whom 1371 were Internet users. The margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.