(Image Courtesy of Wikipedia) All of us know how bad e-mail spam can get, but thanks to spam filters and helpful information, it's basically a controlled epidemic. Unfortunately, the scum of the earth are slowly realizing that mobile devices are pretty much unprotected from unsolicited contact.

Receiving SMS spam for the first both surprised and angered me. At least on desktops or laptops, we are still somewhat distant from e-mails showcasing the benefits of Viagra. But on a smartphone or PDA phone, spam truly invades your private space, literally following you wherever you go, wasting your time by forcing you to deal with the message. It doesn't help that I haven't heard of anything that stops SMS spam.

But the inconvenience caused by SMS spam isn't the only reason why service providers and manufacturers must work together to stop it. As this CNET article says:

...if mobile operators want to exploit this marketing opportunity, they must tread lightly so as not to annoy customers with messages they don't want, experts say. And a recent rise in text message spam could jeopardize these efforts.

Put simply, if some mobile marketers rely on unethical or coercive means to sell their wares, they will make users wary of mobile marketing and limit the potential success of legitimate operators. And thinking about the wasted opportunities simply makes me want to quote Greg Vederman: "If only I could curse...I'd be in Seventh Heaven."