Spam Big Problem Says 52% Internet Users

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"Email users get more spam, but the harmful impact of unsolicited messages is diminishing for them"
says the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project report.

Their survey, conducted between January 13 and February 9, 2005, shows the following interesting facts:

• 28% of users with a personal email account say they are getting more spam than a year ago, while 22% say they are getting less.
• 21% of users with a work email account say they are getting more spam than a year ago, while 16% say they are getting less.
• 53% of email users say spam has made them less trusting of email, compared to 62% a year ago.
• 22% of email users say that spam has reduced their overall use of email, compared to 29% a year ago.
• 67% of email users say spam has made being online unpleasant or annoying, compared to 77% a year ago.

Still, more than half of all internet users (52%) complain that spam is a big problem.

Among other things, the survey found that people were getting less porn spam, a uniquely troubling form of spam for most users and particularly for women. While 63% of email users now say they have received porn spam, down 8 percentage points from a year ago, 29% of those email users say they are now getting less porn spam, compared to 16% who said they are getting more.

And in a first-time measure of ?phishing,? or unsolicited email requesting personal financial information, 35% of users say they have received such email, and 2% have responded by providing the information.

To read the full report, click here.