Survey highlights dangers of spam to children

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 10 Jun 2003 at 13:04

Symantec survey shows children are at the mercy of inappropriate content from spam.

Conducted by Applied Research, the survey polled 1,000 youths about their experiences of spam and gave them the opportunity to voice their concerns over unsolicited email.

'As with any email user, kids are just as susceptible as adults to being bombarded by spam advertising inappropriate products and services, such as Viagra and pornographic materials,' said Steve Cullen, Senior Vice President, at Symantec. 'Parents need to educate their children about the dangers of spam and how they can avoid being exposed to offensive content or becoming innocent victims of online fraud.'

Spam is indiscriminate in its blanket coverage, and while many adults can quickly recognise the type of email likely to be spam, nearly one third of those questioned were unclear whether spam was to be welcomed or shunned.

Furthermore, with 76 per cent of children having personal email accounts, many are encountering spam in private spaces such as bedrooms with no one else present to witness the problem. Four in five children said that they received spam relating to sweepstakes, such as 'Win a PlayStation,' 62 per cent said they had received 'relationship' material, 61 per cent found finance-related spam in their inboxes, 51 per cent had received pharmaceutical mails and 47 per cent had received mail related to X-rated content.

Of those children that regularly receive spam, 21 per cent actually opened such mail. While half of those surveyed were annoyed at receiving improper email content, 23 per cent said they were offended by the material.

Symantec recommends that as well as using whatever anti-spam tools provided by your ISP, you should also make use of desktop anti-spam software. Additionally, parents should 'have that talk' with their progeny about what spam is, why it is unwelcome and how they can avoid it.

The survey highlighted a conflict between the parent's desire to be aware of the email that their children may be receiving, and the children's ambivalence to the value of them doing so. In fact 16 per cent said they definitely did not want their parents looking over their shoulder while they check their email.