The Clearswift poll, conducted online in association with TRUSTe, the nonprofit privacy certification and seal program, received responses from more than 1,200 businesspeople from around the world. It showed that while only 16% of organisations were aware of legislation against spam in their country, a resounding 92.5% of those firms believed the laws were inadequate.
While some businesses believed laws needed to be stronger, the spam survey found many were unknowingly contributing to the spam problem themselves. Forty-four percent of companies surveyed said they used e-mail for marketing purposes, however only 16% rated their company's knowledge of the legal implications of e-mail marketing as 'high', with most (48%) rating their knowledge as 'low'. Forty-six percent of respondents said the legal obligations of e-mail marketing were not communicated to the marketing department.
The overall lack of knowledge of spam legislation among businesses meant many had fallen foul of regulations with a massive 84% admitting they had been 'blacklisted' – prevented by ISPs from sending e-mail altogether or to particular domains – for sending spam.
Despite the low knowledge of spam legislation within businesses, 41% said they would be prepared to take legal action against spammers.
Clearswift director of research, Alyn Hockey, said:
"It is almost comical that most organisations do not know the implications of spam legislation on their e-mail marketing practices yet a significant number are prepared to sue one another. It's a case of pots calling kettles black. While Clearswift believes anti-spam legislation can be strengthened, if organisations became more aware of the current laws they would contribute to reducing the spam problem."
The 2004 Clearswift Spam Monitor survey is based on the input of 1,260 professionals at middle to senior IT management level who participated in an on-line study commissioned by Clearswift in October 2003. Responses were received from 45 countries in all.
The UK's new anti-spam regulations did not come into force until December 2003.