so since email is an arbitrary construct designed by humans, what if
the spammer had to guess my phone number, as well as my hair color?
Or my zip code.
Or the last 4 digits of my SSN. Or bank account. Or utility billing
number. Or my home town. Or my university...
And what if there was no particular syntax or order these questions
would be asked of the spammer?
A friend or associate could easily answer enough of those questions for
me to programmatically authenticate them. And I could revoke my
personal authentication for this sender if I felt it was being
exploited.
I'm suggesting that each email recipient be given a framework to
negotiate authentication as they best see fit, be it an individual pass
code, or some general 'anybody who knows me at all could get a message
through'. Like in real life, some people would be hard to access;
others would be easy to access.
Nevin
On Jul 21, 2004, at 4:16 PM, Roger B.A. Klorese wrote:
spf(_at_)nevster(_dot_)net wrote:
Yes, I'm suggesting that if a user wants to participate in the great
big real-world email system, spam-free, that the end-user be given an
open-ended, reasonable-to-use framework that suggests, if not compels
him to put effort into defining an individual method of letting his
contacts authenticate themselves for him. Much like real life.
If I want to enable someone to converse with me in real life, I have
to provide my party a phone number, and an address, or an email
address. Before I provide that party such important, personal
access, I would decide on entirely personal values whether it was
prudent.
I would give my boss my home cell phone number, but a vendor my desk
phone only.
If my bank were to call me with news of consequence, I would have
them properly identify themselves.
But, on the other hand, none of these things has anything to do with
what a spammer does -- there's nothing you can do to prevent them from
dialing your number randomly.
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