Today's Wired has a story about the unfortunate consequences of the war on "unsolicited bulk mail" (spam). While email was once a medium for intimate communication between friends, partners, and family members, it is increasingly becoming a vehicle for spam, to the point that many people are not allowing any messages at all from anyone outside their personal address books, which rules out, for example, the serendipitous situation of an old friend from high school or college who has fallen out of touch Googling you, finding your email address, and initiating a dialogue. What is to be done? An excerpt from the article follows.

In general, Internet users are resorting to the tactics of the medieval castle guard who barred all strangers at the gate. That may sound appealing to anyone who has done battle with cat-and-mouse tactics of spammers or wrestled with a daily barrage of unwanted and often unsavory e-mail messages.

But some Internet watchers see the medium of e-mail -- as a place for informal, even intimate, conversation -- falling victim to the new anti-spam counteroffensive. The open communications system that once was electronic mail is breaking down as the mood of suspicion and helplessness grows, they say.

The article also reviews some anti-spam approaches.