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Spam-Free Email-How Much Would that Be Worth to You?

Posted by Cliff on from the paying-to-remove-the-crap dept.

Elias Israel asks: "Being a believer in free-market solutions, wherever possible, I am puzzled by the relative lack of technical/business solutions to the problem of SPAM. Given that dealing with SPAM wastes so much of our lives these days, and given that the famed 'time = money' equation has not yet been repealed, I'm at a loss to understand why I can't find more commercial solutions to this problem. Having heard long ago that whenever the question is 'why' the answer is always about money, I'm asking for Slashdot readers' help: Can it really be that there's no money to be made in cleaning up spam? So, if you could virtually eliminate spam from your inbox, how much would you be willing to pay to make that happen? Given that filtering spam is an ongoing and evolving hassle, would you be willing to pay an annual or monthly fee, and if so how much? Maybe if we can figure this out, the economics of a solution will emerge." Given that now SPAM includes e-mail viruses from your favorite Washington-state based company, the rules of the game are now MUCH more different than they were. Still, would some of you out there be interested in paying to remove SPAM from your inbox?

3 of 45 comments (clear)

  1. Spamcop.net by scotpurl · · Score: 3, Informative

    Offers both FREE reporting, and advanced "you pay for it" filtering (which I think is based upon volume -- but still very cheap).

    Works great for me. And it digs through the mail headers to see who really sent the emails.

    http://spamcop.net

    1. Re:Spamcop.net by Mike1024 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Hey,

      Offers both FREE reporting, and advanced "you pay for it" filtering (which I think is based upon volume -- but still very cheap).

      From the SpamCop FAQ:

      The price is $.50 per megabyte of email processed. This charge is asessed when a) the email is received at your SpamCop account or b) when you paste email into SpamCop's reporting form and hit "parse."

      Most e-mail is checked by some filters, then forwarded to your 'real' e-mail account. Also, on the members' page, there's information on a new system that's planned:

      This system is currently beta, but we will be moving to full availability quickly. We are currently soliciting beta testers. Probably the most significant change is that the new system will have unlimited use for $3/month ($36/year). People who use SpamCop only for reporting spam will not notice a change.

      And from the information page:

      The new system has been totally redesigned to be easier to use and more reliable than ever. Received email is delivered into one of two folders, either your Inbox or your Held Mail folder. A full webmail system is available to view these folders, as well as others you create. With an addressbook, filters, and email sending capability, the webmail sysetm is all you need to do email. If you prefer, though, you can use your existing email program and read your mail using IMAP or POP protocols, just like most mail servers.

      The main benefit of an '@spamcop.net' e-mail address is, however, that most e-mail addresses with 'spam' in thier names are filtered by spammers, assuming they are munged.

      This means I can give out my e-mail (michaeltandy@spamcop.net) in web forums and such places, and nobody sends me any spam.

      I think it's worth the cost, which is very reasonable.

      Michael

      Link you can click

      --
      "Goodness me, how unlike the FBI to abuse the trust of the American public." -- The Onion
  2. Re:Satisfied SpamCop user by Kris_J · · Score: 3, Interesting
    "When you send a message to my account, you automatically get a bounce reply. You can reply to this message, and your message will be sent as normal. From then on, you never have to worry about it."
    I found that this was too confusing for the majority of people who email me. That is to say that I deal with more one-off type emails, including many possible job prospects, than I do with a known group of friends. Also, I trialed it around the time that Sircam was sending large attachements to everyone and it drained my Spamcop funds pretty damn quickly.

    I just wish that Yahoo would truly black-hole anything it would otherwise put in the "Bulk Mail" folder. Since it wont automatically delete bulk mail it just means I have to download it an let my Eudora filters sort it out (Yahoo adds a specific header to bulk mail). Some days that means it takes quite a while to download my real email first thing in the morning.