What is Spam?

Backgrounder
What is Spam?
What is Phishing?
What is Spyware?
Spam Statistics
Fast Facts about Spam
The Cost of Spam
Spam Reports and Working Papers

Backgrounder

In just a few years, unsolicited commercial e-mail, also known as spam, has gone from being a minor nuisance to a major economic and social issue. According to many estimates, it now represents as much as three quarters of the world's e-mail traffic. Processing and managing spam creates costs that are ultimately paid for by businesses and personal e-mail users. Some are now reducing their use of e-mail as a communications tool, posing a significant impediment to the benefits of legitimate e-commerce.

Since 2002, Industry Canada has been holding discussions and consultations with key industry stakeholders and consumer organizations to identify possible means of reducing the volume of spam. These discussions have focused on possible legislative action, industry practices, technology, consumer education and international cooperation. As a result of these discussions, Industry Canada officials have formulated a six-point action plan, calling for specific initiatives by government and the private sector, including:

• using existing laws, such as the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and regulatory measures;



• launching a review of existing laws to identify any regulatory or legislative gaps;



• improving network management practices and industry codes of practice;



• using technology to validate legitimate commercial communications;



• enhancing consumer education and awareness; and



• promoting an international framework to fight spam.

To oversee the implementation of this plan, on May 11, 2004, the Government of Canada announced the creation of a joint government - private sector task force to combat spam. This task force has facilitated collaboration between the Government of Canada, industry and consumer groups, and has been be a source of advice to the government on how to best tackle the issue in the future.

What is Spam?

Although there is no internationally agreed-upon definition of "spam", many countries consider it to be any bulk commercial email sent without the express consent of recipients.

What is Phishing?

Phishing is the impersonation of a trusted person or organization in order to steal a person's personal information, generally for the purpose of "identity theft." For example, an email message may appear to be from a well-known bank asking recipients to visit a website to confirm their account details, but the website is actually controlled by a hostile party.

• In September 2003 MessageLabs intercepted 279 phishing emails, by September 2004 that number rose to more than 2 million, a total of 18 million during 2004 (MessageLabs, December 6, 2004)

What is Spyware?

Spyware is software that collects information about a user without the user's knowledge or consent. It may also be software that modifies the operation of a user's computer without the user's knowledge or consent. Typical kinds of spyware include keyloggers, which send a list to a third party of the keys that a user pressed, and adware, which displays to the user advertisements selected by the adware's owner.

• Four in five users in US, or 80%, have spyware or adware programs on their computer
• 89% of users who were infected with spyware/adware said they didn't know the programs were on their computer.
  (AOL-NCSA Online Safety Study, October 2004)

SPAM Statistics

The statistics below are current as of 2005, but Spam statistics are quickly outdated.

• In 2004, 73% of e-mail traffic was spam (MessageLabs, December 6, 2004)



• In 2005, 52% of Internet users considered spam a big problem (A survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project conducted between January 13 and February 9, 2005, CAN-SPAM a year later, April 2005)



• Mean Number of Unsolicited Emails Received Per Week by Canadian Internet Users
  Q4 2001 - 30
  Q4 2002 - 64
  Q4 2003 - 134
  Q4 2004 - 87
  (The Canadian inter@ctive Reid Report, 4th Quarter Winter 2004)

Fast Facts about SPAM

Percentage of total Internet Email Identified as SPAM (www.messagelabs.com)

January 2005	83.11%
December 2004	81.41%
November 2004	73.77%
October 2004	76.76%
September 2004	72.14%
August 2004	84.25%
July 2004	94.51%
June 2004	86.29%
May 2004	76.02%
April 2004	67.61%
March 2004	52.82%
February 2004	59.90%
January 2004	63.01%

The Cost of Spam

• The Radicati Group estimated that spam cost business $20.5 billion US in 2003



• Loss of public confidence in Internet communications, as, in 2005, 53% of email users say spam has made them less trusting of email, compared to 62% the previous year and 22% of email users say that spam has reduced their overall use of email, compared to 29% the previous year. (A survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project conducted between January 13 and February 9, 2005, CAN-SPAM a year later, April 2005)



• Aggressive filtering can block legitimate (permission-based) electronic communications, such as service notices, invoices and newsletters
  • 22 percent of all permission-based email was blocked by Internet service providers (ISPs) during 2004 according to a Return Path study.

Spam Reports and Working Papers

Stopping Spam: Creating a Stronger, Safer Internet
Report of the Task Force on Spam
May 2005

• Appendix E - Background Reports and Working Papers
  Background and supplementary material on the work of the Task Force on Spam and on the conclusions of the working groups.

Recommended Best Practices for Internet Service Providers and Other Network Operators
Task Force on Spam
Working Group on Network and Technology Management
May 2005

Recommended Best Practices for Email Marketing
Task Force on Spam
Working Group on Validating Commercial Email
May 2005

Roundtable Meeting with Key Stakeholders
December 3, 2004

• Background Paper
  Task Force on Spam: Stakeholder Roundtable
  December 3, 2004



• Recommended Best Practices for Internet Service Providers and Other Network Operators
  Task Force on Spam
  Working Group on Technology and Network Management
  November 22, 2004



• The London Action Plan On International Spam Enforcement Cooperation



• Task Force on Spam: Roundtable Meeting with Key Stakeholders (Roundtable Proceedings)



An Anti-Spam Action Plan for Canada
Industry Canada
May 11, 2004

E-mail marketing: Consumer choices and business opportunities
Spam Discussion Paper, January 2003