A New York Daily news article earlier this week covered a story of interest:  an experiment involving those annoying e-mail and pop-up "spam" messages. 

A study sponsored by McAfee (a company that sells anti-virus software) solicited the assistance of volunteer Internet users in 10 countries who would actually respond to spam e-mails they received.  The participants were required to spend at least one hour each day during the month of April, responding to any spam - from e-mails to pop-ups. 

The study found that these spam e-mails aren't just annoying, they can lead to identity theft, fraud, and scams.  McAfee is now going through the 75,000 pieces of spam to analyze their possible hazards to consumers.

Link to the article about the spam experiment here.

What can consumers do to combat spam?  The best thing to do is to ignore or delete any spam e-mail or pop-up messages.  If you do open a message, make sure you don't give out any personal information - particularly financial information.  Install anti-virus software and a firewall.  Inform your kids and older adults about the potential problems with spam mail and pop-ups.