Fundmentally, this makes spam on IM a much more tractably-solveable problem than spam on email.

ENGADGET: Interview with David E. Weekly, Founder of Coceve and www.IMsmarter.com

In 2003, Congress solved the problem of spam email with the CAN-SPAM Act, which authorized Federal Trade Commission lawsuits against chronic spammers.

FORBES: At CES, the only Law that Matters is Moore's Law

On the network side IPS is analogous to anti-virus for email and DDoS defense is analogous to anti-spam.

FORBES: Clean That Network Traffic

Social spam is growing as attacks launched via traditional email come-ons appear to be declining.

WSJ: Spam Finds a New Target

Some free email services like Gmail already come equipped with powerful anti-spam and virus filters.

FORBES: Cyber Crooks See Huge Opportunity In Japan's Tragedy

Just 44% of marketers surveyed believe their organizations were in compliance with the CAN-SPAM act, a law that requires marketers to request permission to send email messages, disclose the messages' source and offer an opt-out function.

FORBES: What Privacy Policy?