Impact of Spam Even Worse on Mobile Devices

The figures range widely, but most indicate a majority of email messages are now spam. The worst accounts might get 100 spam messages for each wanted email.

The problem is even worse on mobile devices. With small screens capable of only displaying maybe a few dozen words, reading each email can amount to real chore. Bandwidth is better than it used to be, but latency and reliability issues can slow message retrieval.

A traditional inbox may still be useable with even 85% of incoming messages being unsolicited. For someone trying to check email via their cell-phone, viewing their inbox becomes impossible, or at least impractical.

The good news is that a handful of PC-based antispam software applications can help with the problem. General purpose filters that constantly monitor POP3 accounts can logon and delete unsolicited email whenever the user's computer is running. SpamButcher is an example of such a program.

Application dependant filtering systems, such as those designed just to act as an Outlook spam filter, generally cannot offer this functionality. They usually only filter messages as they are downloaded into the email client, which is too late to help mobile users.

Mobile users also suffer from wireless messaging spam sent via SMS or proprietary protocols. Some wireless carriers have implemented their own systems to detect problematic messages, and prevent them from being distributed on their networks. While the problem isn't as pervasive, end users are mostly powerless to do anything when a problem does arise.

There have also been intermittent reports of the spam problem spreading to voice-over-IP voicemail systems. Any system which allows unregulated exchange of information may be subject to similar problems in time. System architects should consider this possibility when developing new message exchange protocols. With proper forward-looking safeguards, it may be possible to prevent spam from spreading to other mediums.

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