Overview

In spite of widely publicized warnings about dangers of the Love Bug, only 15% of American adults who use email reported that they received the email containing the ILOVEYOU virus. Four percent of email users opened the file, thereby infecting their computer. Even though a small proportion of users received the Love Bug email, approximately 12 million Americans received the email and more than 3 million email users activated the virus. The virus did not depress online activity in the United States. On Thursday, May 4, 2000, the day the Love Bug struck in the United States, 26% of all Americans went online to send or read email, which is normal for an average day.

About the Survey

This report is built on the findings of an innovative tracking survey of Internet activities, which was designed to get an accurate reading on the impact of the Internet on Americans’ lives. Running continually since March 1, 2000, the daily poll has asked thousands of Internet users not only about what they have ever done online, but also about what they did “yesterday.” Using a daily sample design, this approach measures the scope of Internet activities more accurately than conventional surveys because it focuses on activities that are fresh in respondents’ minds. It also provides new insights into the range of online behavior that occurs daily.  From May 5 to 14, the tracking poll interviewed 743 adults, including 357 email users, asking whether email users had received the ILOVEYOU virus email.  The margin of error for the results of this question is plus or minus 6 percentage points.