At 12:15 PM -0400 2003/10/23, David Maxwell wrote:
I can separate the emotional issues in that situation from the technical
problems caused by spam which are affecting all users of email. Can you?
I'm saying that there may be the most grave real-world
consequences to actions taken by this group, and that any proposal to
deal with the overall spam situation needs to take these matters
seriously. Even if the propose solution neither helps nor hinders
people in this kind of situation, we need to be explicit about this
effect. We especially need to be explicit about the consequences
when we do either help or hinder.
Instead of using your energy to try to prevent progress in solving the
spam problem, why don't you use it to develop a system that supports a
solution to this problem you feel strongly about.
I'm not trying to prevent progress. I'm trying to point out that
there may be unintended side-effects to the recommendations made by
this group, and we need to keep things like this in mind during the
process.
If someone _consents_ to receiving mail from these activists, they can
configure an SMTP (or other protocol which might be less likely to
be sniffed!) server to accept connections from anyone, anonymously.
Connection analysis. The CIA and KGB have been very good at
doing this sort of thing. You don't need to know the content of the
communication itself -- just finding out who is talking to whom is
usually enough.
When you "fix" the protocol to remove this kind of ability, you
need to keep in mind the potential consequences.
That in no way implies that everyone on the planet should be FORCED to
'consent' to accepting mail from anyone, anonymously.
Agreed. But you need to keep in mind the consequences.
--
Brad Knowles, <brad(_dot_)knowles(_at_)skynet(_dot_)be>
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.
GCS/IT d+(-) s:+(++)>: a C++(+++)$ UMBSHI++++$ P+>++ L+ !E-(---) W+++(--) N+
!w--- O- M++ V PS++(+++) PE- Y+(++) PGP>+++ t+(+++) 5++(+++) X++(+++) R+(+++)
tv+(+++) b+(++++) DI+(++++) D+(++) G+(++++) e++>++++ h--- r---(+++)* z(+++)
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