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September 22, 2005
Confusing spam stats
I'm not sure how to interpret a new report from MX Logic.
The anti-spam company's press release says that spam constituted 67% of all email traffic so far in 2005, versus 76% for the same 8-month period in 2004.
Sounds like good news, right?
But the PR goes on to says that "the overall volume of spam carried on the Internet continues to increase." Hang on -- so all MX Logic really discovered is that legitimate email traffic increased faster than spam traffic in 2005.
Yet the company's CEO is quoted as saying that the stats may indicate that " improved email defense technology and high-profile prosecutions of spammers might be having some effect.ā€¯
Huh? Unless I missed something, sounds like we're getting more spam than ever, but its being diluted by a surge in "good" email. I'm not sure you can call that progress.
Posted by brian at September 22, 2005 9:35 PM
Comments
There seems to be a press release by some anti-spam vendor every week. And for years these press releases have been telling us the same thing over and over again: more spam, spam, spam.
Spam is a problem. Whether the rate is 50% or 80%. Why don't we just ignore those 'surveys' in the future? They have become a form of spam in their own right.
Posted by: at September 23, 2005 2:34 AM
