Would you Warranty Your Email?

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Would you Warranty Your Email?

Posted by CmdrTaco on Friday February 6, 2004 @04:50AM from the depends-on-what-that-needs dept.

Kurt writes "A team from the University of Michigan is proposing an economic solution to spam. Instead of relying on technical solutions or government regulations, they use a sender warranty system. In some cases, they argue, it can even be superior to a perfect filter with zero cost, and no errors. Their working paper is available at SSRN. With the caveat that some infrastructure is necessary (isn't it always?), they also claim their approach restores control to the recipient, halts spam, and creates a marketplace for valuable information exchange."

16 of 395 comments (clear)

Bah by Quasar1999 · 2004-02-06 04:52 · Score: 5, Funny

I propose that any and all spammers be subject to possible castration when caught. No infrastructure required... although verification of actual spamming may be a good idea, I say we fly by the seat of our pants... As a positive side effect, Open relays would be fixed pronto... for many admins would fear for their manhood...

Laugh, it's a joke! ;)

--

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Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
1. Re:Bah by Prince+Vegeta+SSJ4 · 2004-02-06 04:55 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  That would drive all of the males out of the market, thereby making all spammers female. Now male /. users would not only be scared of girls, they would loathe them as spammers as well. Given the difficulty of the /. user in getting a date as it is, this is not a good idea.
how about a physical solution? by squarefish · 2004-02-06 04:52 · Score: 5, Funny

A team from the University of Michigan is proposing an economic solution to spam.

if you stop sending me spam now, I won't kill you

--
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
Sounds good, but... by teamhasnoi · 2004-02-06 04:52 · Score: 5, Funny

will I get charged a restocking fee when someone replies?
vacuous by CGP314 · 2004-02-06 04:57 · Score: 3, Funny

A team from the University of Michigan is proposing an economic solution to spam. Instead of relying on technical solutions or government regulations, they use a sender warranty system. In some cases, they argue, it can even be superior to a perfect filter with zero cost, and no errors. Their working paper is available at SSRN. With the caveat that some infrastructure is necessary (isn't it always?), they also claim their approach restores control to the recipient, halts spam, and creates a marketplace for valuable information exchange.

Would you mind writing a little more and saying a little less. I found this description too short and full of specific information.

-Colin
And that's not all! by dillon_rinker · 2004-02-06 05:04 · Score: 1, Funny

their approach restores control to the recipient, halts spam, and creates a marketplace for valuable information exchange.

It also cures herpes and includes an implementation of Common Lisp!
Re:They're still missing the best solution. by rogue555 · 2004-02-06 05:11 · Score: 3, Funny

...that will put him in pound-you-in-the-ass prison...

Shouldn't that be Federal-pound-you-in-the-ass prison?

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"That's not ironic, it's just mean!" - Bender
Re:Nice thought; won't work by shystershep · 2004-02-06 05:12 · Score: 3, Funny

Hmm. Now that you mention it, maybe it isn't such a bad idea after all. (But you forgot the ???? and Profit! lines in your list.)

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The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer. - Albert Einstein
Re:Would you Warranty Your Slashdot Posts? by The+Unabageler · 2004-02-06 05:18 · Score: 3, Funny

Personally, I treat slashdot like the rest of the internet. you all are a faceless lot of text for my consumption :-)

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perl -e '$_="\007/4`\cp%2,".chr(127);s/./"\"\\c$&\""/gees; print'
Re:this is so not the way to go by tverbeek · 2004-02-06 05:21 · Score: 2, Funny

why does evry problem in life have to be solved by creating a free and open market?
Isn't that why spam exists in the first place?

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http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Re:Simplified. by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-06 05:24 · Score: 0, Funny

Yeah, 'cause in practice, I hate everybodys email.

(especially when I'm rewarded for doing so :)
Re:Would you Warranty Your Slashdot Posts? by igaborf · 2004-02-06 05:30 · Score: 1, Funny

Mod parent down. :-)
Re:Why not use PKI authentication instead? by hta · 2004-02-06 05:43 · Score: 4, Funny

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

There's a slight problem .... in that until everyone signs their
email, you'll have to be willing to handle unsigned email as well as
signed. That leaves the signing people worse off than the non-signing
people (more pain, no gain).
Difficult deployment problem.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP 7.0.1

iQA/AwUBQCOn5jjI/tvlmNBeEQLIdwCfTzU3AFyy3vAyqJ1T re ICmreO16YAoJ3J
Yl8AGPs6HHxEEGJfkmV857m1
=XHyf
- ----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Re:this is so not the way to go by John+Hasler · 2004-02-06 06:26 · Score: 2, Funny

> why does evry problem in life have to be solved by
> creating a free and open market?

Yeah, why don't we just pass a law against spam?

Oh, wait...

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Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Great Idea, Spammers would love this! by dasunt · 2004-02-06 06:32 · Score: 2, Funny

<spammer> Crap, this warrenty plan for email has destroyed my spamming.
<spammer> **thinks**
<spammer> **Writes email virus that causes the infected computer to send email to a dummy account in .ru. Spammer then invokes warrenty, quickly withdraws money, and continues the cycle with a new virus.**

Your idea is borked, methinks.
Re:Why not use PKI authentication instead? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-06 08:22 · Score: 1, Funny

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