One of the dumber things Bill Gates ever did was pronounce, a few years ago, that he was going to eradicate spam.

He folded, and now spends his date working toward a more achievable goal — wiping out global disease, poverty and starvation.

The problem with spam is that — as much as that may pain valid direct marketers — spamming is a bloody effective way of selling stuff. Or at least undoubtful types of stuff.

It may surprise you to learn that new research from Web shield company Marshal reveals 29.1 percent of citizens have bought something from a spam e-mail. that is up from 20 percent when a similar survey was carried out in 2004.

The strong — and growing — pulling potential of dodgy e-mails highlights what Marshal spokesman Oscar Marquez describes as spam’s “inconvenient truth.”

“Spam is commonly believed to attract very low response rates. Estimates indicate there are often fewer than 10 purchases

made for every million spam messages sent,” says Marquez.

“But most of these messages are blocked by spam filters. that means the actual response rates are much higher whether you only count those e-mails that manufacture it into a person’s inbox.”

It’s estimated a staggering 150 billion spam messages are pumped out globally each day, and they now detail for more than 85 percent of all e-mail.

The widely held belief that “regular” public don’t buy from spam is a common misconception, says Marquez. “You have to consider the types of products folks are buying. It’s pirated software, knock-off watches, counterfeit designer goods, cheap drugs and prescription medicines, pornography and other adult material.

“The World Wide Web provides convenience and a degree of anonymity to citizens who want to buy illegal or restricted goods. It is a black market and spam has become a conventional means of advertising to a willing audience of…

Original post by dhiram