on 6/2/2003 4:15 PM Tony Hain wrote:
I agree with the idea of a BOF, but 'anti-spam' is the wrong focus. Spam
is a social problem, not an engineering one. I contend that is why we
already have a research group dealing with it (social problems are
inherently difficult for engineers, thus requiring research to figure
out). Focus the group on a tangible engineering problem, deployable
authenticated email. Or as Vixie labeled the more generic, interpersonal
batch communication system.
I agree that this is the right approach to pursue. In fact, I think we
could probably skip the BoF and start talking about that particular topic
immediately ("secure mail", not "anti-spam technologies", which is an
interesting research topic but is a dead-end outside negotiated usage
domains). All we probably need to get started is a mailing list, if
anybody feels like setting one up.
I would also _still_ like to see the I*** leadership fill the necessary
jurisdictional roles of liason, so that the current and future technical
mechanisms can be presented as hooks for the anti-spam legislation that is
needed to actually solve the social problem of spam.
--
Eric A. Hall http://www.ehsco.com/
Internet Core Protocols http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/coreprot/