Resumen
This article focuses on the proliferation of unsolicited bulk e-mail, commonly referred to as "spam." Since these kind of junk mails places a considerable burden on their systems, the spam recipients become increasingly annoyed. A variety of technical countermeasures to spam have been proposed: the simplest are already being implemented; some of the more extreme could require dramatic changes to the ways we communicate electronically. Unsolicited mail consisted mostly of messages from pranksters, chain letters, and inappropriate messages sent to established email lists by individuals who were either unaware their message would go to the entire list or unaware their messages were inappropriate for that forum. In this article, contributing factors relating to the growth of spam and possible solutions are discussed. Technical and regulatory solutions are proposed to solve the spam problem. Legal countermeasures have also been used with mixed results. Technical solutions includes the application of automated and semiautomated filtering solutions, while regulatory solutions includes the proposal of bills demanding legislative realms. INSETS: WHAT DOES SPAM ADVERTISE?; WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT SPAM?