We will not argue here about the motives of the US law makers to pass the CAN-SPAM, but rather focus on the problem of doing something about the spam in your mailbox. By doing more than "just hitting delete", you are helping to solve the problem. We should all exercise our right of control, or we will lose it.
The million dollar question is whether it is possible to stop spam. The most honest answer to this question is probably not -- but you can significantly reduce it. Below are some clear and simple tips to greatly reduce the amount of spam you get:
1) Use a separate email address when you post messages to public forums, such as newsgroups and mailing lists. Never use your personal email address for this purpose -- or it will end up flooded with spam.
