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Now what do you do?

Unlike the Pharaoh (above), you cannot simply order their deaths -- much as you'd like to. No, you have to take another approach; one which is within the law and one that has been proven to be effective.

Rules of engagement for dealing with spammers

First, be sure that you have not actually requested this email (yes, I know, spammers will lie and claim you did, but sometimes, people actually sign up for email -- but forget that they did).
Never, never, ever, email the spammer asking to be removed, his promise to remove you is a lie. And you confirm that your email address is valid. You WILL get more junk email if you do. Guaranteed! This is assuming that the "remove" address wasn't bogus in the first place.
Never simply "hit delete." This is what the spammer hopes you do, rather than complain to his ISP (which is what you should do -- see below).
Never believe that the spammer has the "legal" authority to spam you based upon some Senate bill. In point of fact, that bill never became law. The spammer is lying. Further, the Virginia legislature passed a law on 2/24/99, making spamming a criminal offense. The new law makes malicious spamming (damages incured greater than $2500) a felony. Non-malicious spamming would be a misdemeanor punishable by fines of up to $500. Some spammers will be going to jail. Count on it!
In 1/1/2000, Illinois' Electronic Mail Act (815 ILCS 511) went into effect. This act allows an injured party to collect up to $25,000 per day for being spammed or for being the victim of spammers. Violation of this act constitutes an unlawful practice under the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. At least 1 law suit has been filed under this provision.
Analyze the spam you received. There are a number of sites that can tell you how to read email headers. The important thing is to know how the spam got to your inbox. A good primer on how to track spammers down can be found at: http://www.mcs.com/~jcr/junkemaildeal.html. Pay particular attention to the section on how to read the headers in the email to identify the source.
Complain to the ISP that owns the email submission point. Usually the correct address is "abuse@xxxxx". If this address is invalid, use "postmaster@xxxxx" instead.
If the junk email is hawking a web site, complain to that webmaster about receiving junk email from his customer, advertising the site. Ask that he/she take down the site.
Complain to the abuse person at your ISP. They want to know about spam so they can work to block future occurrences.
Complain to any third party relay sites. If a spammer uses a third party relay, he is committing a theft of service and a chattel trespass, because the owner of the intermediate mail server has neither given permission, nor been compensated.. Usually, the owner of the third party relay want to know that their system is being abused.
If the email message has a "From:" address with an @hotmail address, notify abuse@hotmail.com. They care very much and will go after spammers. If the spammer is a Hotmail customer, their account will be toast. If the spammer has forged a hotmail "From:" address, Hotmail has been known to track down the spammer and sue for trademark violation.
If the spammer includes an email address in the body of the message, complain to that ISP as well.
Complain to the advertiser, on whose behalf the spammer sent you the ad. Tell the advertiser that you never, never intend to purchase his goods or services and that you intend to tell all your friends and relations to do likewise.
Report the junk email to the news group: news.admin.net-abuse.sightings. Delete your personal information, such as your name and email address, but include all mail headers.
If you or your company's email addresses and/or domain has been forged in the junk email, contact your attorney. Refer him to the "flowers.com" case (Parker v. C.N. Enterprises, No. 97-06273 (Tex. Travis County Dist. Ct. complaint filed May 26, 1997))..

When you complain, it is important to forward a copy of the junk email with all headers present. The headers make it possible to trace the junk email back to the insertion point and identifies the ISP who owns it. All email programs have a way to display the complete headers. Check your documentation or contact the vendor of your email client for instructions on how to display the full and complete headers.

What will happen (most of the time)

The spammer will lose his Internet account at the ISP where he inserted his junk email. In addition, his ISP may institute clean-up fees (in the case of this ISP, $5000). Almost all ISPs have "Acceptable Use Practices" as part of their contract for service. Violate your contract, and your account will be cancelled.
The spammer will lose his website on the ISP hosting it.
The spammer will lose his Hotmail account, and/or Hotmail may go after the spammer if the spammer forges Hotmail.
Your complaint will not only deny him access to the Internet, it will deprive him of any "orders" via email, because his reply email address will become non-functional.

The purpose of all of this is to prevent the spammer from making his living at YOUR expense. Remember, spam is sent postage due. It is the equivalent of receiving a long distance telemarketing call -- collect! You don't have to put up with being a target of spam, any more than you would have to put up with an advertiser putting up a billboard on your front lawn without your permission.

What not to do

Under no circumstances should you mail bomb, launch a denial of service attack, or flood the spammer's inbox or fax machine. If you do, you will be breaking one or more federal and state laws.
Under no circumstances should you phone the spammer and harass them. Phone once to complain if you wish. But phone ONLY ONCE.
Leave the physical confrontation to the minions of the Pharaoh -- in the past. DO NOT SEEK A PHYSICAL CONFRONTATION. Much as you'd like to knee-cap him, don't do it!
Do not use unprofessional language when you contact an ISP with a complaint. You are trying to persuade him that it is in his best interest to dump the spammer.

What to lobby for

Tell your Congressional representatives that you want junk email prohibited in the same way that the TCPA of 1991 prohibited junk faxes. Tell them you want laws to only allow junk email to be distributed to you if, and only if, you have signed up for it (this is also known as "opt-in" mailing). Tell your state lawmakers that you want laws enacted in your state like that of Washington, California, Virginia, and Illinois. Tell your lawmaker that you are fed up with junk email and you aren't going to take it anymore.

Finally, you must keep tabs on your local, state, and federal politicians and monitor the source of their contributions. Make them explain any contributions from the Direct Marketing Association. There are a number of online sources for this information. The Federal Election Commission has a publicly available database of who gives campaign contributions to federal office holders and candidates that is updated monthly.