In one of the most alarming developments yet for commercial e-mail marketers, a national survey released Wednesday by a top legislator finds that Americans consider more than half (53 percent) of the
e-mail they receive in their personal in-boxes to be spam, with 26 percent deemed pornographic.
The findings, which come a day after Madison Avenue's leading trade groups released their own
industry standards concerning commercial e-mail and called upon Congress to pass legislation that would make spam illegal (MediaDailyNews Oct. 15).
"We've got parental advisory notices on music
and ratings for TV shows and movies to ensure that parents have the ability to keep their children from being exposed to inappropriate materials," US Senator Charles Schumer, said Wednesday upon
announcing findings of the national survey conducted by InsightExpress.
Schumer, who has been among the legislators leading the charge on an anti-spam bill that would create the equivalent of the
FTC's national "Do Not Call" registry for commercial e-mail, said the research should help his efforts on the Hill.
Three quarters (75 percent) of the 1,500 online users who responded to the
InsightExpress poll said the supported a no-spam registry. Only 7 percent were opposed to such a registry, while 18 percent were unsure. "Spam is having a measurable and negative impact on Americans
and their children's everyday lives," noted Lee Smith, president-COO of InsightExpress, who agreed the findings "should be illuminating as Congress debates the merits of controlling" spam.
The
study reinforces previous research showing that spam is having a profound deleterious affect on how consumers manage their personal e-mail, as well as on workplace productivity. But the research also
reveals exactly how emotionally charged an issue spam has become.
Eighty-six percent of respondents said they should have complete control over the e-mail they receive in their personal in-boxes,
while 89 percent believe companies should inform consumers whenever they release their e-mail addresses to third parties.
The issue is even more charged where children are concerned. Ninety-three
percent said spammers should face "enhanced penalties" for sending inappropriate messages to children.