Spam, spam, spam

I'm happy to say that I generally receive a manageable amount of spam, and have an email client (Opera) that is pretty good at identifying it and shoving it straight in the bin.
I'm not saying this to appear smug, as I realise that plenty of people are inundated with the stuff,  and I spend some of my working life trying to rescue them, a job that will only become satisfying when a few of the perpetrators are put up against a wall and shot.
I'm not generally in favour of capital punishment, but for them I would make an exception, as it must be about the most anti-social activity on the planet (I know it's not actual bodily harm, but I wouldn't rule that out if I met one of them).
Of course, the irony is that spam only works because a small percentage of recipients respond. If people would just stop answering ads for sex aids, the problem would go away, but I guess that's not going to happen anytime soon. Maybe the answer is to pay for them (emails, not sex aids), but although I'd be happy enough to pay a few pence a time, I'd probably feel differently if I ran a charity or a mail-order business.
Also, it would have to be administered without too much government nosiness, which seems pretty unfeasible in the present climate...

A starting point, if you are an Outlook Express user, is to switch to another email program that can identify spam, such as Thunderbird, Opera, or David Harris's excellent Pegasus. You have to help it initially by identifying unwanted messages, but thereafter it will do a reasonable job. Any of these programs will also improve your security, as just about all email exploits are written with Microsoft in mind. Just check the spam occasionally for genuine emails from unexpected sources, especially if you have an Aunt Viagra...