If you are not very annoyed by spam, you are now in the minority, according to the results of a U.S.-based online poll.
About 80 per cent of online Americans surveyed in the recent poll by market research company Harris Interactive Inc. said they find unsolicited bulk e-mail “very annoying.” That percentage was up from just 49 per cent in 2000.
The growing number of unwanted messages that end up in inboxes has created a backlash: 74 per cent of those polled favoured making spam illegal, according to the survey. Just 12 per cent said they oppose making mass-mailing a crime.
The Harris Poll surveyed 2,221 people over the age of 18 between Nov. 22 and Dec. 2, 2002.
Respondents said the most annoying bulk e-mail messages are those selling pornography, followed by mortgages and loans, investments and real estate. The results match those from a similar survey by e-mail filtering software maker Brightmail Inc., which released in December its top 10 list of unwanted types of e-mail.
Other categories in the Harris Poll drew fewer complaints than in previous years, such as the length of time it takes to find a particular Web site and the length of time it takes for a Web site to appear in a browser. Researchers attributed this to faster connections to the Web and the “increased sophistication” of Internet users.