Internet bandwidth used to be a prime argument against spam, but that no longer holds water. Open and accessible information databases have their advantages. The technology that gets your new car loan approved in 30 minutes rather than three days makes it easier to be a spam target. Publishing your phone number makes you a target of telemarketers. Yet telemarketers bear the cost of their advertising, and you have easy ways to avoid them, with Caller ID and your answering machine.
Laws limit times for calling and provide certain post-sales remedies to reduce fraud.
Similar laws could be applied to spam, if most spammers weren't so elusive. It's against the law to put someone else's return address on your snail mail, or to break in and use another company's postage meter. Maybe all we need do to stop spam is follow the same guidelines for E-mail, and punish spammers for fraud and stolen resources rather than for their spam. James E. Gaskin is a Dallas-area consultant and author covering technical issues about NetWare and the Internet.