Re: [Asrg] Spam, defined, and permissions

On Dec 27 2004, Hannigan, Martin wrote:
> > What bothers me here with your approach is that you're not attacking
> > the spam problem, you're attacking the user apathy problem and
> > *hoping* that this will somehow solve the spam problem. But there's no
> > guidance as to what users will or should do if they wake up 
> > from their 
> > apathy. 
> Everything that has been done to date is a massive failure.
>
> It's either too difficult for the average end user, or too expensive
> for the N/ISP to implement, or, has not gained the trust of major networks.
I'm confused. Are you looking for a single, one size fits all solution?
It seems to me that the problems faced by ISPs are quite different than 
the problems faced by end-users or the problems faced by major webmail
providers. 

I believe my criticism is valid, but if I am looking at things too
simplistically, please enlighten me: The charging model is intended to 
push the problem from the ISPs to the end users. End users who don't
do their bit to fix the spam problem are priced out of the network.

But pricing doesn't tell the users just what they are supposed to do
under this scheme. There's the nebulous idea of "keep your PC zombie
free".

I made an analogy with global blacklists, which I think work on the
same principle.  ISPs harbouring spammers are censored out of the SMTP
network, but how they are supposed to keep their userlists spammer
free is nebulous.

Presumably, email is such a vital resource that end users who are
priced out of the mail network will do everything possible to return
to it, and that will somehow acts as a kind of breeding ground for a
true solution to the zombie problem. Perhaps that can truly happen, I
don't know.

I imagine that the same hackers who gave us P2P will find a way to
send email transparently, without necessarily using the existing email
network. Then we'll have two email networks, a free one and a metered one.

> You can only say "get another ISP" for so long and it becomes
> a clear indicator of your level of understanding of the problem
> itself, the mechanics, and the history. 
So long as ISPs don't collude, competitive pressures cannot be discounted. 

-- 
Laird Breyer.

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