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Would you Warranty Your Email?

Posted by CmdrTaco on 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."

5 of 395 comments (clear)

  1. Bah by Quasar1999 · · 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! ;)

    --

    ---
    Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
    1. Re:Bah by Prince+Vegeta+SSJ4 · · 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.

  2. how about a physical solution? by squarefish · · 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.
  3. Sounds good, but... by teamhasnoi · · Score: 5, Funny

    will I get charged a restocking fee when someone replies?

  4. Re:Why not use PKI authentication instead? by hta · · 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-----