A very interesting idea. Email is the one form of electronic communication which we tend to think of as free, although of course it isn't really. Changing or imposing a charging structure might be 'sellable' to email users if you could offer the prospect of a spam-free mailbox. But what about all those emails you send from work which are non-work related but your employer turns a blind eye to? Will they the treat them as they treat 'personal' telephone calls?

Posted by: Alan Fisher on November 18, 2002 05:59 AM

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This may create a slight spam lag, but the spam will surge as long as it remains cheaper than physical mail. I predict the result will be spam will change to better target and sell the user. (Spam is just plain badly written on top of everything. This will change.)

One cent times 19,000,000 means nothing whatsoever to spammers. The spammers look at return on the monies spent. Response rates will determine who drops out -- until they can test out a better piece of spam. There may be a shift from many sources of spam to few, but the overall number of messages sent (what you see in your box) should stay roughly the same.

Should this extend to worker-to-worker spam of betting pools, jokes, inspirational quotes, trivia, non-work news events??

Posted by: (the other)JS on November 18, 2002 07:31 AM

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I've been an advocate of this kind of system since I first heard it discussed. I'd gladly pay my cent/per. I disagree that the amount of spam received by a "regular" person would stay the same. The reason spammers send so many messages is because they can do it for free. These aren't the same people (except possibly the "Get out of debt" people) send unsolicted mail to your homes.

Posted by: boysen on November 18, 2002 09:48 AM

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The author proposes no incentive for spammers to voluntarily abandon a free system in favor of one that costs them money to send their messages and make their messages more easily blocked by the recipients, nor recourse when that system is not used.

Any such system would require government regulation, and therein lies its death. When you give a politician money to manipulate, it's like Frodo slipping on the ring thinking it will allow him to escape from his dilemma. Politicians are like ring wraiths; they will not stop at one cent. They have long lost the ability to distinguish right from wrong. They will tax anything to its death and spammers will seek more exploitable alternatives. That, or spammers will become a lobbying force themselves and drill huge loopholes in any protection system devised.

Posted by: Kent Sievers on November 18, 2002 10:21 AM

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Someone seemed to be anticipating seeing "The Two Towers"... ;)

Posted by: on November 18, 2002 12:23 PM

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What about spoofing the "good" address, giving the impression one cent was paid? Header forging?

Posted by: (the other)JS on November 18, 2002 05:13 PM

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Actually, just watched the Fellowship DVD extras yesterday. The documentary about Tolkien includes a comparison of the ring wraiths to politicians. (Tolkien explicitly did not write analogies into the stories, but believed in 'applicability' -- finding your own comparisons in real life.)

Posted by: Kent Sievers on November 18, 2002 08:50 PM

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