--On Sunday, September 07, 2003 17:07 -0400 "vinton g. cerf"
<vinton(_dot_)g(_dot_)cerf(_at_)mci(_dot_)com> wrote:
I understand but that was not my point. My point is that you
can put a web-based interface on top of your POP account to
access it any where. You still have a POP account which you
are accessing any where if that is what you want. The
web-based interface is just another form of an email client.
that's different - what you said was as quoted above. I agree
that if you design the web server properly, you can use a web
interface, but you run the risk that with this design, you may
never be able to pull the email later, POPStyle, into your
computer. Although it is theoretically possible, using POP
(rather than IMAP) to leave the mail on the server until you
pull it again with POP, many servers appear to clear out the
mail after POPing it. I think John Klensin made that
observation in an earlier exchange.
I may not have, but, to get it on the table, many ISPs who offer
"free" POP3 accounts have decided that, in order to control
costs, they need to do one (or more) of three things:
(i) Impose total-quantity-of-mail limits on mailboxes
(ii) Charge for storage, at least above a certain,
fairly small, amount.
(iii) Prevent the user from using the mail store for
long-term storage by deleting messages that have been
downloaded, whether the user issues an explicit POP3
"delete" command or not.
If the third model is adopted by a POP3 provider, then reading
through the mailbox looking for spam will presumably be 100%
effective in eliminating spam... because it will be 100%
effective in eliminating everything. That is probably not the
desired result.
One of the other things you see to be handwaving a bit about is
the notion of handing out user IDs, passwords, and other
credentials to mail accounts to people so they can "help" with
spam (or other problems). Sure, I can find a web-based
something-or-other to access my POP3 mailbox (if I had one).
But whether I can find one I trust as much as I trust my mail
store and the existing mechanisms for reaching it is an open
question. If I understand what you are proposing --you have
actually been a little vague, and the web site listed in your
signature line seems to mostly run people around in circles--
you require that I supply you sufficient credentials to read
--and potentially delete and maybe alter-- my mail. I assume
there are reasons why I should trust you that much, but,
independent of anything else, your establishing those would be,
I think, an interesting problem.
john