Gee, it's time to dust off my "why e-postage is a bad idea" rant.
Executive summary: * It depends on an efficient global micropayment system. Despite years of effort by some very smart people, nobody has a clue how to build one. * Things that are easy now, like opt-in mailing lists and automatic forwarding from one address to another become impossible without a complex scheme that lets each user say who'll they'll accept mail from for free. Anyone who runs a mailing list knows how excruciating that's gonna be. * It turns ISPs into banks, since they would be the agents for dispensing and collecting e-postage. Being a bank is hard, and requires different skills from running an ISP. * It substitutes one set of social problems for another, with no promise that the new problems are less bad. Just think of what fun e-Klez will be, when it spends $100 of your money sending out spam before you notice. Regards, John Levine, [EMAIL PROTECTED], Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Sewer Commissioner "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly.
