My contention is that spam is largely a social, not a technical,
issue.
theft of tangible property is largely a social, not a technical issue.
however we employ technical means to thwart thieves and to make it
easier to track down thieves, so that we can employ social means (e.g.
prison) to deter them. of course we also try to educate people to
make them less vulnerable to thieves. and we purchase insurance to
manage the cost of lossage due to theft.
but we don't rely exclusively on either social or technical means to
deter thieves. nor do we insist on having a 100% perfect solution to
the crime of theft.
offhand, I don't see why similar mechanisms can't be applied to
spammers. and I suspect that social mechanisms to deter theft wouldn't
be very helpful by themselves - the supporting technology (locks, keys,
fences, alarms, cameras, serial numbers, fingerprints, etc.) helps a
lot to create a credible deterrent.
Keith
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