Junk email is taking a huge toll on British firms and computer users, a European study from Yahoo! Mail reveals today. Britons are now more frustrated about receiving junk email than any other form of unsolicited communication and, for computer users, it is the third most stressful aspect of daily working life after traffic jams and long working hours.

To educate people on combating the irritations of junk mail and help reduce the cost to business, Yahoo! will on May 22nd host the inaugural Dump the Junk Day 2003, a worldwide series of anti-spam initiatives. The overall campaign, which is in line with the Government's proposed spam legislation, will educate the public through their rubbish with a new, experimental marketing initiative, including the first use of a dustcart, dustmen, wheelie bins and bin-bags for advertising purposes.

KEY RESEARCH FINDINGS
Yahoo!'s Dump the Junk Day European study revealed that:
- 94% of Britons surveyed find junk mail very annoying, yet most do not know the best ways to tackle it
- 56% of Britons are unwittingly perpetuating the cycle of spam by replying to junk mail. Spammers often trap the public and confirm email addresses are real by offering fake clauses to opt-out of a mailing list
- Over 25% of people had been fooled into opening junk mail believing it to be genuine communication
- Only 2% of British internet surfers have made a purchase in response to junk mail, but given that it is possible to buy tens of thousands of email addresses for a few hundred pounds, spammers have every incentive to keep on sending out junk emails on mass

John Webb, Head of Yahoo! Mail in the UK, comments "Our study shows that many of the UK's businesses and computer users don't understand how to tackle junk mail with over half of Britons actually helping to perpetuate the junk mail cycle. This lack of understanding combined with the time lost by UK business inspired us to help educate the British public and businesses. We don't want to be in a situation where the number of junk mails sent overtakes solicited emails. Our trial media firsts of teaching people the perils of junk mail through their rubbish will hopefully help reduce this online burden."

Intrusion of privacy (61%) and powerlessness (35%) to combat junk mail were cited as two of the most frustrating aspects of junk mail in Yahoo! Mail's study. Big Brother's Professor Geoff Beattie assisted Yahoo! to analyse how this impacts on our lives. He comments:

"Junk mail is effectively an intrusion of our privacy and one which many people lack the knowledge to protect themselves against. Whether the junk mail is coming into a personal or work email inbox, unsurprisingly it leads to feelings of lacking control, frustration and anger.

For the 25% of people surveyed in the Yahoo! study who are fooled into opening junk email believing it to be genuine, it is like being the victim of any kind of lie or deception and can add greatly to a daily build-up of stress. Many causes of stress can be avoided or minimised and junk email is certainly a problem that, with some knowledge, better office email etiquette and guidance from Yahoo!'s tips, computer users can learn to tackle effectively."

DUMP THE JUNK DAY ACTIVITY IN THE UK
- Comment available from Stephen Timms, Minister of State for e-commerce (DTI) and Professor Geoffrey Beattie, Big Brother psychologist

- New advertising medium - media first experiment to educate people through their rubbish with celebrity support from ex-EastEnder, Dean Gaffney

- Dump the Junk Day Awards - Yahoo! calls for the UK to "name and shame" friends/colleagues who perpetuate the junk mail cycle by nominating them at dumpthejunkaward@yahoo.co.uk

- Tips on combating junk mail
To educate Yahoo! Mail, and all internet users, on avoiding the pitfalls of junk mail, Yahoo! has developed some simple tips below. Also available in more detail on yahoo.co.uk/emailmasterclass.

1. Never reply to a junk email or click on a link within a junk email - it may lead to more junk email being sent to you

2. Treat your email address like your phone number - don't give it out randomly as junk mailers often mine the internet for addresses to target

3. Never forward a junk email to other people - junk emailers could get hold of their addresses too and you may lose friends!

4. Never fall for "personalised" or spoof email subject lines - junk emailers will try anything to get you to read their email

5. Always use an email service with recognised junk email-fighting tools, such as Yahoo! Mail where your account is protected by SpamGuard, one of the world's leading anti-junk email technologies


NOTES TO EDITORS
- Research conducted in first two weeks of May 2003 with over 1,000 computer users in UK and 2,300 around Europe
- Survey also conducted in Italy, France, Denmark, Spain and Germany

FURTHER FACTS
General
- 40% of all emails sent worldwide are estimated to be junk mail
- There has been a 40% decrease in user reports of spam on Yahoo! Mail since the latest version of SpamGuard was implemented in March 2003
- Yahoo! Mail catches and diverts on average of 1 billion spam messages each day
- Ferris Research, in January 2003, reported that unsolicited email cost US corporations USD8.9 billion last year
- Ferris also predicts that the number of spam e-mails received by business users in EMEA will rise from 5 per day to 30 per day in 2008
- Ferris estimates that spam is currently costing European companies around USD2.5 billion per annum