by , 12:00 PM EST, November 19th, 2004
Junk e-mail, more commonly know as spam, clogs inboxes world wide, and wastes millions in thus far vain attempt to curb nuisance. It is likely that no one knows this more than Microsoft chairman Bill Gates: According to the Associated Press, Bill Gates gets millions of spams daily, 4 million to be exact. Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, get millions of e-mails a day, the vast majority of it is also spam.
From the article:
"There are two people who probably are the number one spam recipients in the world," Ballmer said. "Bill Gates (is first) because he is Bill Gates."
Ballmer did not name the second most-spammed e-mail account, but said he also ranks among the world's top spam recipients because he hands out his e-mail address — [email protected] — whenever he travels or speaks.
You can find the full article at MSNBC. The Globe And Mail also has an article that offers more insight into the spam problem, including a note about Mr. Ballmer continuing to make noise about charging postage on e-mail as an anti-spam measure.
Knowing that someone gets more spam than you is small consolation when you must dig through the junk to find a valid message, because no one, perhaps not even Bill Gates, deserves the headaches spam causes.
Then again, the only two people in the world who think that charging postage for e-mail is a good idea are Mr. Ballmer and Mr. Gates, so maybe their spam problem is little more than instant karma.