InternetWeek.com: InternetWeek Readers Desperately Seeking Fix To Spam Problem

It's interesting to look at the survey results of a recent InternetWeek survey about how spam is affecting people's lives, but more interesting, I think, are some of the comments about how it affects businesses. Take this comment for example:

I'm just not able to filter out 100 percent of spam, much of it bordering on the obscene, from our employees' incoming e-mail. Since the e-mail facility is considered a "company asset" (that's how we justify monitoring and fiddling with it in the first place), I'm afraid of what will happen when employees begin to demand better protection from such spam. Some have already expressed concern that the work environment is becoming hostile and sexually intimidating. I'm actually surprised that we haven't had a more formal complaint yet. In such a case, I'd see no solution other than restricting the complainants' e-mail to our internal user group. If more than a few employees went this route, it would have disastrous effects on our ability to efficiently interact with our customers, service providers, vendors, etc.

– Jack O'Callaghan, systems officer, Martha's Vineyard Co-operative Bank, Vineyard Haven, Mass.

There are a ton more where that one came from, go read a few for yourself if you're a marketer. This is what you're up against.