We check our email account couples of times a day and it helps us remain in contact with friends and business. It's a mix of home and work. A difference exists between spam and direct mail and telemarketing. Pornography, especially child pornography, is a crime that leads to prison in many countries. Because of two problems.
Hackers are always a step ahead of law and governmental power.
For instance, hackers can use someone else's email account to spam 10,000 people. The poor email owner may be found guilty for an act he or she has no knowledge of, which is similar to Michael Luick-Thrams' case. A NYT journalist is currently working on this German historian's story. Mr. Luick-Thrams' email account had been closed by Hotmail after receiving an anonymous letter claiming he was spamming. He asked for a right to be heard, defend his innocence and got access to his address book.