At home, people's Internet service providers such as AOL block spam, said Jeff Rodemyer, owner of J. R. Computer Technologies in Springettsbury Township.

In business, he said, a company typically implements programs to block spam.

The first anti-spam legislation went into effect Jan. 1, but the Pew Internet and American Life Project released study findings today that show Internet users remain frustrated.

Lee Rainie, director of the project, said researchers wanted an early reading on consumer reaction. The survey, which was taken between Feb. 3 and March 1, showed:

--Seventy-seven percent of e-mailers said spam has made logging onto the Internet unpleasant, which is an increase from 70 percent surveyed last June.

--Twenty-nine percent of e-mailers have cut back on their e-mail use because of spam. During the June survey, 25 percent reported reduced use.

--Less than half of the Internet users knew that national anti-spam legislation was passed and implemented.

--Most respondents to the survey, 95 percent, said they don't buy products from unsolicited e-mails.

Survey respondents aren't angry with the law, for they are looking for ways to combat spam, Rainie said.

The fight can be found through legislation and legal action, through technology to prevent spam and education for e-mail users on how to avoid unwanted and possibly harmful mail. Rodemyer equates the influx in spam to bogus telemarketing calls. People stopped listening to the legitimate offers because they were annoyed.

"It definitely, in the corporate world, cuts back on productivity," Rodemyer said.

For Internet service providers such as Dave Mott, spam is expensive. Mott owns Computerlynx Network in Hellam Township.

Endless unwanted solicitations cost little to send, but the cost of keeping them off of the server and out of clients' mailboxes is expensive. Mott is planning to work with Postini, a company that screens messages.

By blocking spam and viruses, the company can save server space and bandwidth.

Mott already pays for a predetermined amount of bandwidth, and anything over that number is charged. The expense of the service, which will cost Mott a couple hundred dollars a month at first, will have to be translated to the end users, he said.

"It's very annoying that they do this," he said. "The spammer doesn't even care."

Source: The Miami Herald