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Energy-Wasting Spam Also a Pain in the Earth

It hurts environment and productivity, authors say

By Ambreen Ali, Newser User

Posted Apr 15, 2009 3:31 PM CDT

(Newser) – Spam e-mails consume 20% of companies' energy budgets, enough collectively to run 2.4 million houses, says a study commissioned by the security firm McAfee. Most of the waste results from end users sifting through the 62 trillion junk items sent annually, eWeek reports. Eliminating spam would be the equivalent of taking one car off the road for each 200 employees in a 1,000-person company, according to the report..

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The energy saved through spam filtering is equivalent to taking 2.3 million cars off roads, the study found. (Shutter stock)

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They are criminals who are all about making money. - Dave Marcus of McAfee,
on whether spammers
care about the waste

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Energy-Wasting Spam Also a Pain in the Earth