Re: SMTP AUTH

[Piet Beertema <]

    Some ideas I have been thinking about in the past:

    1) Only accept digitally signed E-mail.
Forget it. You'd have to force its implemenation and
use worldwide. It took ages and a lot of pressure to
introduce the Domain Name System; it's going to take
an infinity to get your idea accepted worldwide.

    2) Just ask an amount of money from the site from where
       you received spam.  If they don't pay, they get blocked.
Great. Ever though about the practical aspects, not
to mention the legal aspects?

    3) Make some system where you exchange only E-mail with
       correspondents you accept, or with a Subject you like.
Whom do you mean by "you"? Anyone could implement this
on a *personal* basis, but implementing it even on an
organisation-wide scale is already out of the question.
       The problem of the maintenance of the valid recipients
       lists could e.g. be solved by coupling mailers to
       databases, and when A mails to B, B gets automatically
       and immediately added in the valid recipient list of A.
The problem of databases is that they have to be maintained;
and automation often causes more problems than it solves.
If A is a spammer, (s)he would be happy with this solution,
because if B is a valid address, it automatically is opened
for further spam...

    4) Go to court with people selling spam software or databases
       with E-mail addresses.
Give it one try...


	Piet