Life is full of little annoyances: the way the volume goes up when the adverts appear on television; people who play their iPods so loud on the train that everyone can hear it; whoever thought The IT Crowd was a good idea for a sitcom.

In most cases, we might get frustrated, but we put up with them because there is nothing we can do.

What is still the most annoying aspect of using email, the most popular software application in the world? If you did not say spam, we would be surprised.

The difference here is that we can do something about spam. But there is a danger that junk email is being accepted as another of those everyday annoyances that we learn to tolerate.

In January 2004, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates was quoted saying: ‘Two years from now, spam will be solved.’ Not quite, Bill.

Twelve months ago, 13 European countries agreed to track down and prosecute international spammers, and the then-ecommerce minister Mike O’Brien called for similar agreement with Asia.

So far, those words have had about as much value as the get-rich-quick emails you still receive every day.

Most organisations now use spam filters to protect employees and customers from the worst of the junk email, but plenty still manages to find a way through.

Spam wastes time, storage space and money, and can cause offence or even lead to fraud. But it can be beaten, and should not be allowed to become part of the accepted noise of everyday computer use.

Is government and industry serious about the problem, or was spam simply a high-profile issue-of-the-day last year? It would not take much to give the Information Commissioner – the UK’s spam watchdog – the power and resources necessary to fulfil this responsibility.

Spam is an annoyance that contributes to negative feelings about technology and ecommerce. But it is one that can be tackled, and should be stopped before it becomes another of those things to which we simply have to turn a blind eye.