Poop Man Bob Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/03/0...e.ap/index.html Gates: Buy stamps to send e-mail Paying for e-mail seen as anti-spam tactic Microsoft's Bill Gates, among others, is suggesting computer users start buying "stamps" for e-mail. NEW YORK (AP) -- If the U.S. Postal Service delivered mail for free, our mailboxes would surely runneth over with more credit-card offers, sweepstakes entries, and supermarket fliers. That's why we get so much junk e-mail: It's essentially free to send. So Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates, among others, is now suggesting that we start buying "stamps" for e-mail. Many Internet analysts worry, though, that turning e-mail into an economic commodity would undermine its value in democratizing communication. But let's start with the math: At perhaps a penny or less per item, e-mail postage wouldn't significantly dent the pocketbooks of people who send only a few messages a day. Not so for spammers who mail millions at a time. Though postage proposals have been in limited discussion for years -- a team at Microsoft Research has been at it since 2001 -- Gates gave the idea a lift in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Details came last week as part of Microsoft's anti-spam strategy. Instead of paying a penny, the sender would "buy" postage by devoting maybe 10 seconds of computing time to solving a math puzzle. The exercise would merely serve as proof of the sender's good faith. Time is money, and spammers would presumably have to buy many more machines to solve enough puzzles. The open-source software Hashcash, available since about 1997, takes a similar approach and has been incorporated into other spam-fighting tools including Camram and Spam Assassin. Meanwhile, Goodmail Systems Inc. has been in touch with Yahoo! Inc. and other e-mail providers about using cash. Goodmail envisions charging bulk mailers a penny a message to bypass spam filters and avoid being incorrectly tossed as junk. That all sounds good for curbing spam, but what if it kills the e-mail you want as well? Consider how simple and inexpensive it is today to e-mail a friend, relative, or even a city-hall bureaucrat. It's nice not to have to calculate whether greeting grandma is worth a cent. And what of the communities now tied together through e-mail -- hundreds of cancer survivors sharing tips on coping; dozens of parents coordinating soccer schedules? Those pennies add up. "It detracts from your ability to speak and to state your opinions to large groups of people," said David Farber, a veteran technologist who runs a mailing list with more than 20,000 subscribers. "It changes the whole complexion of the net." Goodmail chief executive Richard Gingras said individuals might get to send a limited number for free, while mailing lists and nonprofit organizations might get price breaks. But at what threshold would e-mail cease to be free? At what point might a mailing list be big or commercial enough to pay full rates? Goodmail has no price list yet, so Gingras couldn't say. Vint Cerf, one of the Internet's founding fathers, said spammers are bound to exploit any free allotments. "The spammers will probably just keep changing their mailbox names," Cerf said. "I continue to be impressed by the agility of spammers." And who gets the payments? How do you build and pay for a system to track all this? How do you keep such a system from becoming a target for hacking and scams? The proposals are also largely U.S.-centric, and even with seamless currency conversion, paying even a token amount would be burdensome for the developing world, said John Patrick, former vice president of Internet technology at IBM Corp. "We have to think of not only, let's say, the relatively well-off half billion people using e-mail today, but the 5 or 6 billion who aren't using it yet but who soon will be," Patrick said. Some proposals even allow recipients to set their own rates. A college student might accept e-mail with a one-cent stamp; a busy chief executive might demand a dollar. "In the regular marketplace, when you have something so fast and efficient that everyone wants it, the price goes up," said Sonia Arrison of the Pacific Research Institute, a think tank that favors market-based approaches. To think the Internet can shatter class distinctions that exist offline is "living in Fantasyland," Arrison said. Nonetheless, it will be tough to persuade people to pay -- in cash or computing time that delays mail -- for something they are used to getting for free. Critics of postage see more promise in other approaches, including technology to better verify e-mail senders and lawsuits to drive the big spammers out of business. "Back in the early '90s, there were e-mail systems that charged you 10 cents a message," said John Levine, an anti-spam advocate. "And they are all dead." http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2004/TECH/internet/03/05/spam.charge.ap/story.gates.ap.jpg'> "Like I need more fucking money." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest krie Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 What a cunt. Bill Gates is super nerd status. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty_habiT Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 Originally posted by krie What a cunt. Bill Gates is super nerd status. no fuck that, super nerd status is a good thing.... bill gates is on super dhabz is gonna hunt my bitch ass down and bust my knee caps status (and install linux on his comp) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatbastard Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 there was an email going around about this a few years back wasnt there? and it turned out to ne a hoax? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overtime Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 thats gay, i would never send email again, plus there would be programs created to byapass that bullshit. whats next, money to send im's like text messages? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekro Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 Actually the idea was to use a bit of computing time as the stamp, i.e. your computer spends ten seconds solving a math puzzle before it can send an email. It's designed not to inconvenience your average computer user, but cause huge problems for spammers. On the other hand, this'll never work: spammers are more clever than hackers when it comes to getting around blocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villain Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 Yeah I don't think this would work cause there will still be free email providers. That just sucks. Penny for your thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
$360 Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2004/TECH/internet/03/05/spam.charge.ap/story.gates.ap.jpg'> "IM A BIG FUCKING DOUCHE" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EyeforAnEYE Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 Re: Re: E-mail postage stamps? Bill Gates wants to charge you to e-mail. Originally posted by $360 http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2004/TECH/internet/03/05/spam.charge.ap/story.gates.ap.jpg'> "IM A BIG FUCKING DOUCHE" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty_habiT Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 Originally posted by Nekro spammers are more clever than hackers when it comes to getting around blocks. You are wrong on so many levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metallix Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 HEY BILL http://www.bhon.net/news/stfu/jpgs/customs.jpg'> SERIOUSLY, FUCK THIS GUY *I* AM NOT PAYING FOR E-MAIL FUCK YOU BILL FUCK PAYING FOR E-MAIL BILL IF YOU MAKE ME PAY FOR -EMAIL BILL, IM NOT GOING TO USE YOUR PAY- E-MAIL SERVICE. I WILL PROGRAM A NEW EMAIL FORMAT AND I WILL NOT PAY ANYTHING YOU FUCK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_gooch Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 FUCK THAT NOISE!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty_habiT Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 you know what.... bill gates controls windows servers.... linux has always been free and always will be free..... with free mailservers.... bill gates can fret all he wants, but the fact of the matter is, his shit ain't gonna fly with those who are in the know. He's trying to get big corporations on his bandwagon, and I can personally say without a shadow of a doubt that it's not gonna happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfreshsushi Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 once again, for those who may have missed it: Originally posted by fatbastard there was an email going around about this a few years back wasnt there? and it turned out to be a hoax? yes, yes there was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caL Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 as long as theres lsd on said stamps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
why write? Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 fuck that shit...ill have to hit up my aol friends and tell them to hook me up with a program...what a joke, bill gates a greedy fucking bastard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty_habiT Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 Originally posted by caL as long as theres lsd on said stamps. Me and my good friend almost had to maul this mother fucker night before last for trying to pull a jack move on some "fools" [us] whom he though weren't in the know. He thought we were some noobs, and he came about this close to paying the big price for trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Anyhow, I won't do the 'cid anymore, that shit done flipped my mental back in highschool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dANce'N'grAf Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 what the fuck???? thats so stupid itll never work people wont allow it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pfffffffffft Posted March 22, 2004 Share Posted March 22, 2004 there is no way this will ever go through people are too cheap to pay for e mail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earmuffs Posted March 22, 2004 Share Posted March 22, 2004 snail mail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skullnbones Posted March 22, 2004 Share Posted March 22, 2004 http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2004/TECH/internet/03/05/spam.charge.ap/story.gates.ap.jpg'> i cant believe nobody made jokes about that being his dick size... paying for email will never happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nopes Posted March 22, 2004 Share Posted March 22, 2004 what a shiester im drunk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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