AOL Users Say They Got Less Spam in 2004

America Online says that in 2004 its effort to stop spam was a major success. Users reported they actually got less spam than in 2003.

Interestingly, not all of the reduction appears to be from spam blockers. AOL claims that they actually blocked about half as many spam messages as they did the year prior.

This would suggest a 50% drop in the actually amount of spam being sent.

There seem to be some inconsistencies here though. While there have been some high profile arrests under the CAN-SPAM spam control act - no one else is reporting a reduction in unwanted email.

Most sources indicate the "spam level" is at best flat, and more likely going up. Most studies have shown the CAN-SPAM act not to have had any positive effect.

Most of the reduction reported by end users is probably due to the use of anti-spam software either client-side or server-side. Its also possible that other factors such as blocking traffic at the router level is preventing AOL's spam killer systems from having to deal with it.

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