Or more to the point why are we letting it still be a problem?
Because we - for the same values of "we" that are "letting" it still be
a problem - don't care enough to invest the resources necessary to make
it go away.
Spam is fundamentally a social problem. Technological measures are an
arms race - a good stopgap, perhaps, but still a stopgap. It will
require social change, and that's slow to happen, especially when its
major opponent is laziness.
Given that spam is still a problem, comprising about 90% of email and
costing about $40 billion a year, why is it that there is so little
visible progress on this list and generally regards implementing a
solution that actually works and which can be easily accessed by the
average Internet user?
Because it's an arms race. The technology is changing very fast, and
getting technology deployed is difficult at best; getting it done fast
and thoroughly is, simply put, impossible.
I am wondering if anyone here can explain to the average Internet
user
1. Why so little progress appears to be happening
2. What needs to happen for spam to be largely resolved as a problem
3. How far we are down this road and when we might expect a solution?
I can try, but the user in question is not likely to like it.
Most briefly, because users want technology that simply doesn't exist
yet, and are too lazy to learn to use the technology that does (or
perhaps, in a few unfortunate cases, unable to learn to).
Users want perfect filters. No such thing exists; there is some reason
to think no such thing can exist.
Users want filters that require no ongoing maintenance. Good filters
exist, but they require ongoing care from an intelligent and at least
mildly computer-savvy human; users are, by and large, not willing to
invest the resources required to become capable of managing such
filters.
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