On Sat, 15 Feb 2003 22:56:55 -0800 Bob Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I'd like to see market-based defense too. Specifically, I'd like to > see a class of email that requires postage. If it existed, how many > people would switch to it from free, but spam-ridden, email? I'll be honest, I had trouble keeping a straight face while reading this; but perhaps I am being too quick to throw it in the crazy pile... Can you explain how this could possibly work? Or why anybody would want this? It could never work for me. I send literally hundreds of emails a week. Part of why email is worth using is that it is free. If I have to spend money to carry on a conversation, I'de rather be ripped off by the phone company, whom I already pay, then to get ripped off by some email billing authority to do something that has always been free. If my spam problem were really that bad, I would much sooner just create a list of email addresses that my account will except mail from. For anyone else who needed to email me, for example someone who I gave my business card to, I would provide a URL to a web-based email form. This solves my own spam problem without costing me money and while still allowing me to do business. Instructions on mailing me from the form could be included with a bounce message. Including new people in my accept list would be a cinch... In fact, I think I'll create just such a system to try out... Perhaps people sending from the form, and people I send to, could be added automatically.... The nice thing about a technical solution is that if it doesn't work, or becomes tiresome, or becomes obsolete, I can simply turn it off and try something else. Laws and for-pay institutions don't go away just because they should. If spam is the price of a little more freedom, then freedom is cheap indeed. TimH _______________________________________________ Eug-LUG mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.efn.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/eug-lug
