Issues and Perceptions of Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail

Abstract

The proliferation of unsolicited commercial electronic mail (UCE) or spam is becoming a global concern for many organizations. This chapter explores issues of unsolicited email, the cost and loss of productivity, the impact of UCE and computer viruses, privacy concerns, electronic mail filters, attempts to control spam, and legislative action. A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis was also applied in this study. The results of a survey concerning the perceptions of UCE are presented. The results clearly show that while the respondents find spam annoying, they spend very little time in dealing with it. Although the respondents express the need to control spam, they do not believe that governmental control is the solution, but rather that Internet Service Providers and organizations should take the responsibility for controlling unsolicited email. Lastly, the respondents are very unlikely to open, let alone read and respond to unsolicited email. The results of this study will be useful for guiding organizational, university, and public policies.