Do you receive lots of junk email from people you don't know? You’ve probably seen an increase in the amount of “junk mail” which shows up in your email box. As more people use email, marketers are increasingly using SPAM to pitch their products and services. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products or get-rich-quick schemes. What do you think about spam? Whether you consider spam harmless or harmful, we’ve conducted a survey to find out some of your attitudes on the topic.

• Males and females have different attitudes towards spam. Almost 50% of females are scared of spam because they think it might be dangerous to their computer, whereas males are not as concerned (35%). Actually more males (42%) compared to females (32%) think spam is annoying, but harmless. A small percentage of panelists (6%) are not concerned with spam at all.
  
  
• Respondents were asked which mode of communication they found most useful: mail, telephone, instant messaging, or email. Surprisingly, respondents aged 25 and older find email most useful, whereas younger panelists 18-24 find the telephone most efficient. Also, instant messaging is popular among 24% of younger respondents, whereas only 3% of older panelists find this mode of communication useful.
  
  
• Most people (80%) check their email at least once a day, mostly from their home computer. Over 64% have 2 or more email accounts.
  
  
• About 19% of panelists receive fewer than 7 unwanted emails a week, 41% receive 1-10 per day, and 40% claim they receive more than 10 spam e-mails a day! The most common topics of spam are money schemes (71%), medical (37%), pornography and educational (31%).
  
  
• The majority (81%) of panelists have spam filters in place on their primary email account. Over 62% agree that these filters block all or most spam and 79% agree they do a good job in preventing unwanted emails. Most people (23%) check their spam folder less than once a week.
  
  
• At one time or another, almost 49% have not received an email they were expecting, most likely because it was accidentally blocked by a spam filter. Over 73% did not bother to contact their email provider when this happened.