Gil Hamilton wrote:
Hence, the obvious solution is to make it *cost money to send mail* (or to use any other network resource). Combine that with automated reputation handling -- charge a small fee to accept mail from "unknown" parties -- and this both reduces spam and shifts the cost of resource usage to those using the resources. Of course, this won't completely eliminate spam -- nor arguably *should* it -- but it has the potential to make it less cost-effective that it is now -- where the cost is effectively zero once you've amassed your list of addresses. This would at least make spammers aim at a more tightly-focused target market.
nice idea - micropayment and all. (i.e. a mail would cost $0.0001 so that ordinary people don't exactly pay anything). however - here's a bummer: you've got a chance of pretty much 0.00% to move into that direction, because a different system is already in place. since it works reasonably well, it'll not get replaced, not even by a vastly superior one. that's just how things work. unfortunately.