According to a study out from Ferris Research, spam will cost the US economy "over $10 billion this year" due to lost work hours.

Scott Anderson, President Shadow Marketing, emailed me, "Even if the research is flawed I'm sure some zealous politicians will
find ways to misuse it," which made me laugh. It's true though. Spam costs all of us a lot, but the reaction to spam may cost us email publishers and marketers even more. Think about how filters have made life hellish over the past year even for permission- based senders.

At this time last year, I wrote an article in ContentBiz saying 2002 would be the Year of the Filter. I don't know what 2003 will
be, but I hope it's not the-year-politicians-drove-permission-email-out-of-business.

http://www.ferris.com