[extropy-chat] Email Postage

[Brian Lee]

That would pretty much kill mailing lists like this one.

The problem with "email postage" is that it kills many legitimate internet 
functions that wouldn't work if email wasn't free. So mailing lists, alerts, 
etc would all suck at US$.05/email.

The problem with AOL and Yahoo's charging for email is:
1) It will allow direct spam to your inbox with no way of blocking it (think 
of it as a deluge of direct mail that you can't filter).
2) The additional revenues don't decrease user costs.

So I estimate that a few years from now, should email postage take off, 
we'll still get spam but it will be "legitimate" or "semi-legitimate" since 
US$.05 is still cheaper than junk mailing out credit card offers and real 
estate pitches.

I think a system of signatures that can be added to a trusted list. Or 
create an email certificate authority that I can trust any sender with a 
certificate from that authority. If I end up blocking too many senders from 
an authority, I will rescind the grant.

The solution to spam needs to be free. Not another way for ISPs to cash in.

BAL

>From: Giu1i0 Pri5c0 <pgptag at gmail.com>
>To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
>Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] Email Postage
>Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 15:58:55 +0100
>
>Email stamps would be a good protection against spam. If 1 email costs
>5 cents, 100k emails will cost 5000 and spammers will think twice.
>At the same time they should not convert email into something so
>expensive that normal users must watch how many emails they send.
>A good idea might be something like free email until a certain daily
>treshold, much higher than the average number of emails per user per
>day. Say, for example, 200 free emails per day and 5 cents per extra
>email. This may leave normal users in but cut spammers out.
>G.
>
>On 2/5/06, Adrian Tymes <wingcat at pacbell.net> wrote:
> > The companies that adopt it, only think their size gives them a
> > stranglehold on the Internet.  There are just too many people on
> > the "outside" - and likely always will be.
> >
> > That said, if Yahoo! adopts a minimal approach - that is, the
> > only things that paid email guarantees are that the message will
> > be delivered, and will be delivered to the inbox instead of the
> > spam folder, that might be a viable way to test the service
> > without losing customers.  Rejecting, altering, or in any way
> > failing to deliver unpaid email (to the standards of today,
> > which do allow for spam filtering) just because it's unpaid is
> > likely to run into trouble...but then, AOL has been hemorraging
> > customers for years, and survives in large part by replacing
> > them with new people who have never used the Internet before.
> >
> > --- "Keith M. Elis" <zarathustra_winced at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > > This topic is one that many people have mixed feelings about.
> > > Companies
> > > appear to be seriously weighing the idea of charging for email
> > > delivery
> > > in certain cases. Frankly some form of email postage is probably a
> > > good
> > > idea for the long-term viability of the medium.
> > >
> > >
> > 
>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/technology/05AOL.html?ex=1296795600&en=6efa03d1cbfacf9e&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > extropy-chat mailing list
> > > extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> > > http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > extropy-chat mailing list
> > extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> > http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
> >
>
>_______________________________________________
>extropy-chat mailing list
>extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
>http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat