The anti-spam software vendor’s CEO, Enrique Salem, told an All Party Parliamentary Internet Group meeting at Westminster, London last week that at least 50% of all emails that individuals and business receive will be spam by September.
According to the San Francisco, California-based company’s filtering records, 48% of all email traffic on the internet is currently spam, up from 7% in April 2001. The company also said that for some high profile companies the rate of spam is as high as 79%.
Brightmail said that there were nearly 7.5 million instances of spam in May 2003, and that spam is rapidly becoming more offensive, with pornographic content accounting for 19% of all US spam in June, and 20% of all spam in the UK. The only category that accounts for more spam is that offering products for sale.
The company also called for more involvement from the internet industry and law enforcement agencies in cracking down on spam, as part of five top strategies for preventing unwanted emails.
The top of the list, of course, was ISPs and corporate users deploying anti-spam software, although other recommendations included tougher judicial and financial penalties against spammers, better and more frequently updated guidelines for legitimate email direct marketing companies, and more education from enterprises and ISPs for users on how to deal with unwanted email.
Source: Computerwire
