Well, it finally happened-I got spam on my mobile phone. As you probably know, many cell phones have an e-mail address, which is usually (phone number)@(carrier). A common spamming technique is simply to generate numerically sequential addresses and send them off-pretty easy, especially when certain area codes and exchanges can be easily targeted.

Assuming the current federal anti-telemarketing law is overturned on constitutional grounds (and it will be), we're back to having to deal with that nonsense again as well, even while mobile. Legislation just won't help here because the Internet is fundamentally international, and telemarketing calls originate in far-off lands just as easily as they might from St. Louis or Spokane.

As I've noted before, the sociology of mobile communications is perhaps even more of an influence on the evolution of said mobile comms than is technology alone. Any new communications technology that gains hold will inevitably change how we relate to one another.

Respect vs. free speech

I must admit, while I find the incessant ringing of cell phones a minor annoyance, uninvited marketing-related communications now truly raise my ire. And, despite what so many claim, there is no constitutional right to privacy; we can't prevent people from contacting us even when such actions result in irritation or worse.

It used to be that the bounds of good taste and polite society were enough to prevent unwanted, bothersome communications, let alone messages both pornographic and fraudulent. Today, it seems, anything goes, and if you don't like it, tough. Have cell phones, in fact, contributed to a general decline in civility?

Regardless, spam is ruining (or, for the truly cynical, has already ruined) the Internet. We used to assume that our e-mails would reliably wind up in front of the intended recipient. Now, spam filters routinely get it wrong, and reliability has become a theoretical concept. Throw in telemarketing, and valuable communications are disrupted.

Yet, there is no good solution to this problem other than returning to the bounds of good taste, polite society, and-dare I say it-respect. In the meantime, my cell phone is off and my spam filter is on. Best of luck to us all.

Craig J. Mathias is principal of Farpoint Group (Ashland, Mass.).