Online behaviors affected by spam

Has the continued proliferation of spam caused computer users to alter their online behavior? There are many online behaviors such as online shopping, posting to newsgroups, and visiting chat rooms that are documented to contribute to the increased reception of spam, or commercial e-mail. Has the increased dissemination of spam caused users to reduce or curtail these types of online activities? This study looks at this issue and what methods users have under-taken to reduce the amount of spam received such as antispam e-mail filtering programs and which of these programs users found effective. Finally, this study examines how computer users approach the issue of imposing some type of e-mail tax as a means of removing the financial incentive enjoyed by spammers at being able to send out an almost limitless number of nearly free commercial e-mail ads, and that users are overwhelmingly against any type of e-mail tax.