Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Phil asks "If [First Contact comes via Galactic Internet], what are the chances that it will be spam?"

I'm not sure, but Richard Carrigan of SETI has suggested, seriously, that we should take precautions against alien computer viruses or malicious coding if we ever do locate a signal.

Like Phil, I think we could expect "significant technical hurdles." We could discover an intelligent signal and spend many, many years trying to get any useful information (or even a harmful computer virus) out of it.

UPDATE II: And don't miss Seth Shostak's new article at Space.com, "When Does SETI Throw in the Towel?"