AOL blocked 1 Billion pieces of spam yesterday to its 35 million users, according to the NYDaily News — up from 780 million pieces two weeks ago:
A recent report from independent tech consultancy Ferris Research estimated 30% of inbound E-mail at U.S.-based Internet service providers is spam.
Ferris forecast this spiraling problem will cost U.S. organizations more than $10 billion in 2003 because it “consumes computing resources, email administrator and helpdesk personnel time, and reduces workers’ productivity.”
My own mailbox reflects this upswing. One of my accounts gets an average of 70 pieces of spam a day; between all my accounts, I probably delete about 100 a day.
Legislation won’t help. Most of the spammers are (or easily could be) far beyond the reach of U.S. law, and I’m fully confident that any attempt to craft a content-based law to control spam would be perverted to restrict legitimate content.
The answer is technological. I know the wizards are working on it, and I hope to try a solution or two in the near-ish future. I’ll report back.
