Half of all e-mails received in Hong Kong are spam and nearly all of it comes from outside the territory, according to a government survey released on Monday.
Only five per cent of the unsolicited e-mails come from Hong Kong, while 40% come from Asia and the remainder come mostly from the United States, the study found.
The Hong Kong government is currently considering legislation to outlaw spam e-mails which are estimated to cost businesses millions of dollars each year in wasted time and lost productivity.
However, John Tsang, the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, in announcing the survey findings, said legislation was not the only solution to the problem.
”We may need to look at cooperation with the industry and other jurisdictions and see how to raise the shield from a technology perspective,” he said.
Tsang said it was also important to educate people not to buy from companies that send out unsolicited e-mails. – Sapa-DPA