There is one erroneous idea in sorefinger's post. That is that"most smart netizens" can take the profit incentive out of spam. Too many netizens aren't that smart.

    !. Teens and pre-teens who, although they
       may know better, seem to feel exempt.
    2. Otherwise intelligent people who don't
       think they need to know how to cover
       their asses.
    3. People who don't have a clue and aren't
       going to get one.
    4. People who think spam is the equivalent
       of third class mail and, so, see
       nothing wrong with it.

It only takes a response rate of 1 in 30,000 for a spammer to
get rich. I think we need better tools.