Some Yahoo members on Friday reacted angrily to changes in the Web portal's e-mail marketing practices, comparing the company's revised policy to an open invitation to spam.
Corporate networks are becoming increasingly clogged by e-mail pitches for pornography, money-making schemes and health products, and there's little relief on the horizon.
In September, more than 17 percent of all e-mail traveling across the Internet could be classified as spam, according to data collected by UK e-mail service provider MessageLabs. The company's figures are presented in its latest monthly report.
Consumers are increasingly applying the stigma of spam to marketing messages of all stripes, causing headaches for legitimate advertisers on the Web and beyond.
Spammers have co-opted an administration feature in Microsoft's Windows operating systems and are using it to bring up intrusive advertisements on Internet-connected computers.
Shifting from daily nuisance to serious IT and business concern, uncontrolled spam is prompting customers to arm themselves with tools to fight back against productivity loss, potential liability and bandwidth-clogging consequences that unsolicited co...