[was Re: [Asrg] Usefulness of wholesale blocking of attachments for SMTP?]
Barry Shein wrote:
On April 19, 2004 at 19:50 research(_at_)solidmatrix(_dot_)com (Yakov
Shafranovich) wrote:
> > As such, the only chance of beginning to tackle the spam problem
> > requires some sort of postage, simple charging, to simply make
> > resource usage reflect costs. For everyone. Analogous to paper postal
> > systems with, perhaps, some creative twists to reflect the low cost of
> > common usage, preferably thrown back to the ISPs et al.
>
> People do not hack phones or fax machines in the real world - it is
> simply not possible with the same ease as it is in the digital world.
Perhaps you are too young to remember blueboxing?
...
Touche, I forgot about the multi-flavored boxes, the Anarchy Cookbox and
my BBS days come to mind :)
> Another issue is convincing people to switch - the unlimited/free
> pricing scheme has been embedded into the psyche of Internet users to
> such extend, that it will very hard to convince people to switch. Even
> if you float the "no spam" flag, the first few pieces of spam arriving
> in their inbox, be it paid or hijacked, will break that idea very quickly.
What convinced people to pay for long-distance calling or for toll
booths on highways?
I think your sense of consent is touching but not acknowledging how
such resource charging comes into being.
Given the opportunity the public would probably "vote" for free
broadband cable etc. Why not?! And no doubt, as you imply, make the
big pouty face at any suggestion otherwise.
But that's the point, the reality of economics has to penetrate
somehow.
My suspicion is that the way things are going either something is
done, or the RBOCs (and equivalent, PTTs etc) will own e-mail,
everyone else having gone broke on spam etc, and we'll be paying
15c/message just like SMS.
I bet your phone co won't give a lot of creedance to the big pouty
face about being charged for email.
Maybe I'm the only one, but I just don't think people realize how
close we are to the whole thing collapsing like that. And the RBOCs
etc not only can taste that victory, they consider it their natural
destiny.
Anyhow, it's something to consider as one fritters away time because
every suggestion is just not quite perfect.
I think the expression is: Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
With the current state of affairs I simply do not see how any kind of
e-postage system would take off at all within a reasonable span of time
even once all of the technical issues have been addressed. The same goes
for any proposal calling for a major infrastructure overhaul - there
simply isn't enough monetary or non-monetary incentive for network
operators, software providers and governments to make a major change of
that scale. It may very well be that the system may collapse due to that
(which I personally do not think will happen).
However, lets step aside for a second. You are advocating e-postage, and
there are some group members as well as others in the industry that
are doing the same. Practically speaking, would do you suggest? There
have been technical problems raised by several members which have to be
addressed in detail. Some of them may not be addressable until there is
working code.
There is at least one group member (David Nicol) who is working on a
e-postage system (pay2send.com). There is also BondedSender which is
close to real e-postage. Would it be viable for all of the parties
interested in e-postage to get together and start working together
including addressing the issues raised and testing code, instead of just
discussing the idea?
> ISPs also have to be convinced to spend money on supporting and
> participating in the e-postage infrastructure. Given the low profit
> margins they are getting today and the uncertain benefit that will be
> gained via e-postage, they will not run towards the idea so fast. This
> is why people have suggested to add some benefit to the mix such as
> "registered" mail, etc.
Well, as an ISP it's interesting to hear you speak on my behalf.
I think the possibility of conforming resource demands (and consequent
costs) to resource usage would have a certain appeal.
Obviously I am not refering to you :) I was refering to other ISPs - I
have not seen interest in e-postage from a sizable proportion of the ISP
community. Of course Microsoft is interested in it as per Bill Gates's
speech but they are also a software provider, so their interest may have
a different motivation.
Yakov
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