Spam slows down Internet traffic, and is a waste of time for the reader trying to wade through it, and is therefore a waste of money in dial-up charges. Many newsgroups exist as support groups and clubs for various subjects. The beneficial effect of this support is diluted by Usenet spam, because the reader is wasting time and money sorting out the spam from the real articles. E-mail spam is worse, because it is delivered right to the reader's mailbox, often disguised as a friendly message. The reader wastes time and money downloading and reading junk e-mail.

On top of that, it costs money for ISPs and online services to transmit spam. If spam grows, it will crowd our mailboxes to the point that they're not useful for real mail. Many spammers are always changing their own addresses, so by the time the ISP has discovered the spam and is dealing with the flood of complaints and bounced messages, the spammer is unreachable. The costs incurred by the ISP are incorporated into their price structure. Just as shoplifting costs all consumers, spamming costs all Internet users.

In addition to wasting money and bandwidth, spam adds to the noise pollution on the Internet, and damages the mental environment of the Internet community.

The content of spam is often illegal in Canada. Spam advertisers are usually trying to sell fraudulent get-rich-quick schemes.

Spammers say that they will remove addresses from their mailing lists on request, but they almost never do. Do not reply to spam messages. Replying to spam confirms to the spammer that your e-mail address is valid.

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What is spam?
What can I do about spam?
What does the Business Internet service do to combat spam?

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