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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | ||
www.yahoo.com.au provides Senator Alston with Honk-O-Meter of Public Support for Speedy & Effective Legislation to Ban Spam
SYDNEY, 4 June 2003 - Executives from Yahoo! Australia and NZ will meet with the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston, in Canberra today to discuss the groundswell of support for the speedy implementation of the Commonwealth Government's planned legislative assault on junk e-mails, or spam. For the past two weeks a 10 metre-long, purple and yellow Yahoo! Mail truck has been touring the east coast of Australia giving people the opportunity to have their say about spam. Internet users from Wollongong to Wagga Wagga, Bendigo to Broadbeach and Sydney to Shepparton have been able to register their support for strong legislation to be introduced to ban spam. A clear majority of the people polled during Yahoo! Mail's Anti-Spam Drive said spam made them angrier than their favourite sports team losing - an indication of the importance of this issue in a nation of sports lovers. They also rated spam as more frustrating than heavy traffic, people using mobile phones in restaurants and their Internet Service Provider (ISP) connection dropping out. Those responses are backed up by data from ACNielsen.consult's March 2003 Australian Internet User Survey where it was found that the number #1 concern of Australian Internet users was junk email and/or intrusive marketing. 27% of the survey respondents cited this as their main concern when using the Internet - nearly double that of their September 2002 survey, when only 14% did. People even rated spam a higher concern when using the Internet than privacy, security of financial transactions and viruses. "ACNielsen.consult also found that Email continues to be the dominant application online for 93% of Australian surveyed - so combatting this problem, speedily, has to take priority," said Rachel Watt, producer, Yahoo! Australia & NZ Mail. In March 2003, Yahoo! Mail's patent-pending anti-spam technology, SpamGuard, stopped five times as much spam from going into users inboxes as it did in March 2002. "This shows the growth of the problem, as well as the increasing effectiveness of our tools in fighting spam," said Watt. "But there's no silver bullet in the fight against spam, it has to be a combination of technology, legislation, education and international cooperation." Yahoo! Australia & NZ has launched a website at www.yahoo.com.au/fightspam to inform people about the latest spammer tricks and techniques, as well as how to avoid them. People can also set up a free Yahoo! Mail account, protected by Spamguard, by going to www.yahoo.com.au and clicking on Mail.
-ENDS- 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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