Re: [anti-spam-wg@localhost] Solution to Spam

[Nate Waddoups <]

On Thu, 26 Jun 2003, Mark McCarron wrote:

> If your wondering about 'older email systems' they will simply
> incompatable with the new system and would be unable to send emails to
> any domain using the new system.

Forsaking interoperability makes it easy to eliminate spam because it
makes it possible to use all kinds of techniques that just aren't possible
with the current infrastructure.  Nobody will argue that much (at least,
not if you make it clear where you're coming from).  But that sort of
approach rarely comes up, because of the adoption hurdle.  So rarely, in
fact, that it took people a while to realize that you were actually
describing such an approach.

I mistakenly assumed that you intended the proposed system to interoperate
with the existing infrastructure, and I suspect I'm not the only one.

> They would have to be updated to be able send emails. Within a matter
> of days the spam level would fall by around 95%, after that people
> wouldn't even bother.

I'm sure the spam level will be approximately zero, but it seems to me
that the level of legitimate email in the new system will not be much
higher.  Who will be using the 'new' mail systems?  How will the new
clients be distributed to the end users?  How will they be persuaded to
use the new clients?

> It's already working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For whom is it working? 

That's not a rhetorical question.  I really am interested in the answer.  
I strongly suspect that spam will only be truly 'solved' with an
incompatible infrastructure, and if you know of one that's working now,
I'm curious...

However I believe that the new infrastructure can be implemented without
giving up mailing list functionality and without leaving blind users out
in the cold.  But that's OK, I expect to see several competing
implementations, and with a little luck, the best ones will win.  Of
course, my inner pessimist figures it will be the ones with the best
marketing... :-)

-- 

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA
http://www.natew.com