email classes! (and i dont mean email 101)
---
here is a possible solution:
i think a lot of people are overlooking something really important
and that is that the majority of email users have free online email
accounts like hotmail. in order for any new protocols,
security/accountability measures to be put into place, companies like
microsoft are going to have to buy into the technology, otherwise
there will be massive fracturing within email systems that probably
not be in anyones best interest. that is unless someone has a really
great idea and it catches on to the point of becoming an instant mime.
my idea is this; create a set of classes that act as a bottleneck
between the user and the acquisition of an email account. in essence
set restrictions for each class type, ie:
personal: 24 i/o messages/day quota. (basic sign up, just like hotmail)
business: 48 free i/o messages/day quota. (comprehensive sign up
requiring credit card info, policy would charge an additional $1.50
for additional >48 sent emails)
i cant imagine an individual sending more than 24 emails in a day,
and if they did they would be forced to pay for them, legally.
alternately only a single account could be registered per CC# this
would eliminate multiple personality disorder ;)
the number one problem i see with email is that unlimited sending
power is available to anyone. i have no idea how a person could
enforce my idea seeing how email is available all over the world
without any real centralized control. people should still be able to
sign up for free and easy accounts, but there should be a reasonable
limitation on how much email traffic can be happening through those
accounts. i see no reason for commercial email at all, there is no
legitimacy to random advertising, and there is only questionable
legitimacy to targeted advertising. that it may or may not be
effective is beside the point. it seems that people are having
trouble distinguishing between what is spam and what is not, well
here let me make it easy for you: if the general message is
repetitive and you dont subscribe to it of your own free will then
it's spam. no one seems to remember long ago when there was no spam;
occasionally an email would come out of the blue, maybe it was
commercial, maybe not, either way it was not spam because there was
not system behind it, it was just a coincidence, maybe even an
accident. spam can be characterized as a sytematic approach by a
company or individual to evict a response from other persons without
their permission. the intention of the sender is key.
for the implementation of the system i have proposed, this is how i
would imagine it to take effect:
first design and foolproof the system architecture. second integrate
the design into the existing base SMTP, releasing it as a new version
backwards compatible with the current SMTP with the exception of the
traffic limitation feature and email classes. third set up mail sign
up portals stressing the potential to eliminate unwanted
solicitations.
eventually if enough people signed up spam would cease to be viable
as anyone attempting to spam would experience a drastic downshift;
with the old SMTP targeted mailboxes would fill up after 24 messages,
the rest would bounce. with the enhanced SMTP spammers would be
limited to 48 messages a day per CC, even if they had 50 credit
cards, that would still only be only 2400 emails total, with any
bounces further diminishing the quota. basically spammers would
simply have no business.
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