Control spam - don't let it control you!

It's estimated that four in ten UK workers miss deadlines due to spam. It's not the actual spam that is the problem, but legitimate emails that have gone missing - blocked by spam filters.

I am not surprised at this. Ever since I have been using the Internet, outrage against spam has bordered on hysteria. I'd swear blind some people who receive spam join a support group or walk around in a traumatized state.

Yes, spam is a problem - but if almost fifty per cent of your workers miss deadlines because of over zealous security measures, then that's an even bigger problem.

One way to avoid such problems is the increasingly popular method of "white listing."

As an alternative, several observers suggest that consumers instead adopt services that offer "white listing."

White-listing services let users create a list of addresses from which they do want to receive messages, rather than force them to blacklist, or define the type of message they don't want to receive.

Employers should learn to put spam into perspective. Control spam - don't let spam control you!