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Re: [Asrg] Re: the e-postage argument

2004-04-23 10:35:37
Traditionally (for 100 years or so) post offices exchanged first class
mail without the exchange of funds, but the rules always required that
such mail hav substantial postage affixed at the source, it is just that
the revenue was not shared with the receiving country PO.

Some sources claim that terminal dues weren't introduced until 1969,
others suggest that transit and terminal payments were always
collected.  Hardly matters for this argument.

Analogies do not make for strong arguments, and I can't tell if this one
favors e-postage or not.

The main point I was making is that settlement schemes are very
complex, and are not cheap to implement.

I agree that we can exchange e-mail without settlements.  After all,
that's what we do now.  But in the absence of settlements, nobody's
ever offered a persuasive argument for e-postage other than rate
limiting.  If you want to rate limit, you should rate limit, no need
to pretend that stamps are involved.

Regards,
John Levine, johnl(_at_)taugh(_dot_)com, Taughannock Networks, Trumansburg NY
http://www.taugh.com


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