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Australians encouraged to have their say on Spam + yahoo.com.au launches new Fight Spam information site
SYDNEY, 21 May 2003 - Yahoo! Australia & NZ (www.yahoo.com.au) intensified its campaign against spammers today, launching a new spam information site (www.yahoo.com.au/fightspam) as well as a 4,000km Anti-Spam Drive to coincide with National Anti Spam Day tomorrow, Thursday 22 May. Yahoo!'s Anti Spam Day in Australia, a first of its kind in the world and also happening simultaneously in Europe, aims to educate the public about spammer techniques, as well as to send a strong message to internet spammers that unsolicited email - or spam - is unwanted and an invasion of privacy. Yahoo! also hopes that it will soon be made illegal. In addition to unveiling a new site to educate the public about spam, Yahoo's 4,000km Anti Spam drive in a big purple and yellow, yodeling Yahoo! Mail Truck, will commence in NSW and visit major regional towns throughout the east coast of Australia. The drive aims to give Australians the chance to register their support for urgent legislation banning spam. The thousands of petitions from around the country will then be taken to Parliament where the anti-spam drive will conclude. "Everyone is aware that spam is a huge problem but to date, people haven't been given the option to register how they really feel about it, which is why we felt it important to create an opportunity for Australians to have their say," said Rachel Watt, Producer, Yahoo! Australia & NZ Mail. "It's vital that we get national legislation against spam sooner rather than later, so we're supporting the government on that." With e-mail usage expected to double in three years* unwanted mail is becoming a horrendous issue for all email users. In addition to supporting a fast and firm stance by the Government on spam, Yahoo! is committed to reducing spam and has recently introduced a new and more powerful version of SpamGuard, a feature of Yahoo! Australia & NZ Mail, which significantly reduces the amount of spam delivered to users. "We've worked hard to give our users choice and control when it comes to their inboxes," said Rachel. "With the availability of SpamGuard and other useful tools, we believe we have the best solution to fight spam." Spammers are using new combinations to get into people's inboxes however preliminary tests by Yahoo! of the new SpamGuard have resulted in reports of spam declining by as much as 40 percent. In addition to SpamGuard, Yahoo! Australia & NZ Mail offers other spam-fighting tools to further bolster protection against spam. The newest weapon against spam provides e-mail users the ability to block html graphics from being downloaded automatically when a message is opened and also protects users from web beacons, which are invisible tags within an e-mail that trigger an alert back to the spammer that the e-mail has been opened and the address is "live." Furthermore, people have the control to block up to 100 addresses and set up 15 filters to customise protection against spam.
About Yahoo! Australia & NZ Mail -ENDS- * *IDC: Expected rise in global worldwide daily volume of e-mail from 31 billion messages this year to 60 billion in 2006. Yahoo! Australia & NZ (www.yahoo.com.au) is one of the most recognised Internet brands in the region. www.yahoo.com.au and the online auction site SOLD.com.au are part of the global network of Yahoo! sites. By working with leading local companies, Yahoo! Australia & NZ provides comprehensive online products and services to over four million Australians and New Zealand consumers and businesses each month. For further information, photos or interviews, please contact:
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