--On 9. september 2003 13:41 +0200 jfcm <info(_at_)utel(_dot_)net> wrote:
We have a major spam problem and a solution I wish to discuss here as it
fits the mission of no IETF group as I understand it (this for Harald).
Jefsey,
your suggested message format seems very similar to the
"message/external-body" feature that has been part of MIME from the
beginning.
as far as I can tell this suggestion is also already partially implemented
by spammers, in the form of "the main spam is in a picture embedded in the
HTML that is sent as email". I haven't seen any great benefits accruing
from that in the form of making it more expensive to spam.
the restriction part turns weemail into a "gated community", where you have
to have gatekeepers/converters between the weemail and the rest of the
world, to convert mail into and out of "weemail" form. This violates the
end-to-end principle of email (which is near the root of many of our
problems with spam, but is also the main reason why the Internet mail
system won out over X.400, PROFS and oh-so-many other mail systems).
when the gated community is larger than the rest of the world, this starts
getting really interesting. But I don't see that there is a way to get
there from here.....
Harald