SPAM, aside from its unfortunate status as completely unpaid advertising, is not
a terrible thing. What's terrible about it is that when the time comes that
internet traffic has to be paid for on a bit-by-bit basis so that the badwidth
is paid-for, it is likely that the recipients will have to pay, rather than the
senders. For that reason, we should all be making a lot of noise to ensure that
it's the senders and not the recipients that have to pay for mail. Mail is the
vehicle that SPAM uses, newsgroups excepted, and since newsgroup managers can
afford (only because of the costs to them for bandwidth) to trace the SPAM back
to its source and reject it before forwarding it, it won't be as big a problem
there. Mail should, therefore, be traceable back to its originator, and all
methods of spoofing the sender's IP address should be defeated in some way.
This means MAJOR work on the protocol layers from the IP/ICMP layer upward, and
that may not happen for a while. It's MUCH easier to charge the recipient for
mail delivery, and while that's BACKWARD from the logic, the organizations that
cooked up most of the internet procedural arsenal have always chosen
easy/adequate over difficult in any form, even when .0001% of additional
effort/complexity would have added 10000x more functionality/reliability. This
is what happens when a committee does things, and that's what runs the internet.
This thing won't be fixed unless some lone individual, incredibly bright,
imaginative, and altruistic, but otherwise underutilized, does it.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sellam Ismail" <foo_at_siconic.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2001 8:42 AM
Subject: Re: Wave of the Future (Spam)
> On Fri, 22 Jun 2001, Mike Ford wrote:
>
> > >> One of my friends is a spammer, and what he does is setup a whole new
> > >> "persona" for each email blitz. Cost of doing business as far as he is
> > >> concerned.
> > >
> > >Can I have your friend's home address?
> >
> > He is a 6'8" 260 lb merchant marine, do you REALLY want to knock on his
> > door and explain what a naughty spammer he is?
>
> One good kick to the nuts is all it takes.
>
> Sure, send the address on over :)
>
> Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
>
>
Received on Fri Jun 22 2001 - 12:07:04 BST