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)
Essay by James Gleick says man has developed ways to see better, then to see faster; says science has made it possible to observe speed and then to love it, dangers notwithstanding; says man chooses mania over boredom; photos (M)
James Gleick article on privacy issues in technological age; notes information-gathering about individuals by Government and corporation computers has reached astounding level of completeness; holds peoples' concerns about such information compilation are greatest if they distrust Government (L)
James Gleick comments on movement to oppose extension of copyright law to electronic world; argues that on-line world can respect copyright, and eventually, it will; drawing (M)
