Internet users rejoice: one of the world’s top spammers has been indicted! Only another ten billion to go.

No, there aren’t ten billion spammers at present, despite the evidence of your in-box. From what I’ve heard, there are only about 200 large spam operations at any one time. But that makes little difference when, like the mythical hydra, two more spring up for every one you cut down. If there’s money to be had by doing something, there will be people doing it, regardless of laws. And since the Internet is world-wide, and laws are limited to (at most) a single region, there’s zero chance that laws will ever stop (or even noticeably slow down) spammers.

The real solution to the spam problem is technical. Bayesian filters, spam-fighting organizations, block-lists, securing systems against spam-zombies, unforgeable identification systems for senders… none of it is perfect, but it all contributes to making spamming less effective, hitting the spammers where it hurts: in their pocketbooks.

That’s the only way to stop spamming, or any financially-motivated crime: remove the financial motivation.