"James Gleick article on annoying unsolicited e-mail known as spam that is crammed into every electronic in-box and has grown to epidemic proportions; it is more than nuisance, as it absorbs bandwidth and overwhelms Internet service providers; online pioneer Brad Templeton believes he has pinpointed first spam, message typed in 1978 by Digital Equipment Corp salesperson announcing product presentation; it elicited small furor because Internet was seen by users as being emphatically noncommercial; yet people who hate spam believe it is protected as free speech even though Supreme Court has ruled that individuals may preserve threshold of privacy; suggestions to stem tide include making it illegal for forge Internet headers and forcing unsolicited bulk mail to carry mandatory tag; photos (L)"
