The torrent of unwanted email (spam) received by users may be subsiding as a result of new laws and improved filtering technologies, according to a US government report released on Tuesday.
The Federal Trade Commission study suggests that most consumers receive less spam than two years ago, although unwanted email remains a major nuisance for many. The FTC gathered statistics from internet users, companies and ISPs, and analysed email filtering systems.
A survey conducted by the e-mail filtering firm MX Logic, and cited in the report, found that spam accounted for 67% of emails passing through its system during the first eight months of 2005, a 9% decrease compared to a year earlier. The US internet service provider (ISP) America Online also told the FTC that its members received 75% less spam in 2004 than in 2003.
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A similar picture emerged globally. 鈥淪tudies from other countries similarly report a decrease in the amount of spam reaching consumers鈥� inboxes,鈥� the report says.
In the US, the report concludes that the 2003 CAN-SPAM law has helped cut unwanted email. This law compels companies to let people 鈥渙pt out鈥� of receiving future mailings when providing an email address. The FTC found evidence that most retailers and marketers are complying with the law.
Zombie drones
On the technological front, the report says that many ISPs have taken steps to limit the amount of spam being sent from their networks. Improved security has cut the number of 鈥渮ombie drone鈥� computers being used to relay messages without its owner鈥檚 knowledge, it says.
At the same time, the study found that e-mail filters 鈥渉ave evolved and become substantially more sophisticated and accurate鈥�. In July and August of 2005, FTC analysts showed that two free web-based ISPs鈥� anti-spam filters 鈥渆ffectively blocked almost all spam鈥� sent to e-mail addresses that FTC staff had created.
The FTC also found that several commercial email providers blocked between 86% and 95% of spam messages.
Decentralised distribution
But the war on spam is far from over. Spammers are using more automated and decentralised distribution methods to avoid detection and blocking, the FTC says, and are also turning their attention to nastier types of email scam.
鈥淎 more troubling shift in spamming tactics over the past two years involves the types of messages sent,鈥� says the report. 鈥淔or example, phishing spam, which attempts to trick recipients into providing personally identifiable information to scam artists posing as legitimate businesses, has increased significantly.鈥�
Meanwhile, consumers have apparently grown more tolerant of junk email. A report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, conducted in April 2005, found that the percentage of consumers annoyed with spam dropped from 77% to 67%.
The FTC survey concludes that most users have 鈥渃ome to view it more as an acceptable nuisance rather than a cause for abandoning email.鈥�
