UCE, Spam, Junk, whatever name you give it, there will always be people who do not like it. The question is what "spam" is legal and what should be considered illegal.

Moreoever is the question of recourse. What can be done about spam. Banned IP's, companies, prosecution, law suits, jail time? Spam filters, additional email addresses, blocking software? Who is to blame and to whom does the obligation of regulation and control fall?

Banning any particular ISP, Domain, company or individual based solely on UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) is not only an act of foolishness it is probably a direct a violation of 1st amendment rights protected in the United States of America by the Constitution of said States.

Granted, no one likes unsolicited emails. We want to open our mail client to find only happy pleasant letters from our friends and family, or to find advertisements that pertain directly to us and reach us at a time when we are receptive, can use the information service or product and can afford the same.

In your daily paper there are ads after ads after ads that you did not request, yet you do not blacklist the paper, the companies or the delivery person.

Your telephone rings probably once a week with cold calls for donations to non-profit organizations, politicians requesting your support or salesmen trying to get you to buy a service or product yet you do not blacklist the telemarketer, seller, company or phone company.

This isn't to mention the ads on TV and the Radio. The amount of UCE you could receive in email in one day doesn't come close to the amount of UCA (Unsolicited Commercial Advertising) that you could potentially receive in a day's worth of CBS, ABC, UPN, HBO or MTV viewing or listening to your local FM Radio station.

Then there is the tons of "junk mail" sent through the post office every day. No one has blacklisted the United States Government nor the post office for this. And what of the delivery person or the mail originator. You don't like the ads for the local video store every week yet you still go there to rent the newest releases you didn't get to while they were in the movies. You haven't blacklisted them.

To behave this way would stop commerce as we know it. If stores were only allowed to advertise in their own store windows, assuming that the ad isn't offensive to our view when we drive down the road would increase pricing so dramatically that one could not afford a simple loaf of bread on an hours wages. Wonder bread does well because they are allowed to advertise to anyone who picks up a particular media, Safeway and 7-11 are allowed to advertise as well for their stores which draw customers who buy the Wonder bread.

You have a right to not turn on your radio, a right to turn off the TV. You are not forced to read the paper or answer your phone. Likewise you do not have to connect to the internet. You do not have to read or even have an email address yet you do. And with an email address you still do not have to post it on the internet.

When you do your email becomes public domain available for use by anyone who might stumble across it. Public domain to post elsewhere, sell or send emails to. You might disapprove or even abhor pornography yet it is everywhere on the internet. You simply choose not to visit those sites and you also are able to install software to block those sites from your view. You have every right to delete email based on header information and to even install anti-spam software to remove prior to your view.

The argument then appears of pay-per-use internet access. Anger at having to download all the mail and pay for the junk. Spam blocking companies and software will make this dilemma go away as does IMAP email retrieval or header only retrieval. And what of banner advertisement on web sites. Isn't this unsolicited as well, why cant we blacklist those sites that force us do download those banners wasting valuable bandwidth and pay-per-access time.

The simple solution lies not within the sender as much as in the receiver.

Investigate IMAP folders or web-based email for your email retrieval. I also suggest 2 forms of spam protection. A company that shields your email such as spam-cop so the sender must first be approved by you before they can send email then the installation of a spam filter such as spam-fighter.

Get a second email address. One for family and friends and one for general internet use. This way your "real" email address wont be spammed and you can check it as often and as freely as you choose. The other you can install filters and protection so that you can pick and choose who you will receive from.

This is not the full extent of the solution though. The sender does retain some liability... or should I say responsibility.

The sender needs to firstly format the email in a manner that is not deceptive. A subject like "Re: Missed you last Friday" for an email containing online loan processing is deceptive and should be considered illegal advertisement. Perhaps all solicited or unsolicited emails should contain <ADV> or similar in the subject line.

Second all commercial email should contain an unsubscribe option that should be honored ABOVE ALL.

A reply email to correspond directly with the seller should also be added if not on the website of their ad.

The email should not be sent to the same list without giving ample opportunity for the receiver to visit the site and unsubscribe. Keeping in mind that for a user to log on and download 30 emails all saying the exact same thing will only do damage to the company.

And lastly the email should be honest and truthful about the product. Deceptive emails should be prosecuted under false advertisement laws.

SPAM is not simply UCE but a much deeper problem. A problem of sellers being disrespectful to their recipients. A problem of the recipients expecting someone else to protect them and make their internet experience soft fluffy and hassle free.

This entire online dilemma could be solved is the recipients took upon themselves the responsibility they currently leave on the ISP community to ban and forever remove from their servers anyone attempting to advertise their product through mail campaigns. Changing the way they use and receive email, give out their address and by being responsible to filter their own garbage realizing that the potential golden nugget will slip through.

If sellers were required to be respectful of their recipients and honest in their campaigns. Allow the receiver to get out of a list at any time and to let them see quickly wether the email they are about to read is anything they want to read. Also to be 100% honest and truthful when contacting potential customers.