Gates Backs E-Mail Stamp in War on Spam By SAUL HANSELL
Published: February 2, 2004
hould people have to buy electronic stamps to send e-mail?
Some Internet experts have long suggested that the rising tide of junk e-mail, or spam, would turn into a trickle if senders had to pay even as little as a penny for each message they sent. Such an amount might be minor for legitimate commerce and communications, but it could destroy businesses that send a million offers in hopes that 10 people will respond. The idea has been dismissed both as impractical and against the free spirit of the Internet.
Advertisement
Now, though, the idea of e-mail postage is getting a second look from the owners of the two largest e-mail systems in the world, Microsoft and Yahoo.
Ten days ago, Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that spam would not be a problem in two years, in part because of systems that would require people to pay money to send e-mail. Yahoo, meanwhile, is quietly evaluating an e-mail postage plan being developed by Goodmail, a Silicon Valley start-up company.
"The fundamental problem with spam is there is not enough friction in sending e-mail," said Brad Garlinghouse, Yahoo's manager for communications products.
The company is intrigued by the idea of postage, Mr. Garlinghouse said, because it would force mailers to send only those offers a significant number of people might accept. "All of a sudden, spammers can't behave without regard for the Internet providers' or end users' interests, " he said.
Neither Yahoo nor Microsoft have made any commitment to charging postage, in part because the idea still faces substantial opposition among Internet users.
"Damn if I will pay postage for my nice list," said David Farber, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, who runs a mailing list on technology and policy with 30,000 recipients. He said electronic postage systems are likely to be too complex and would charge noncommercial users who should be able to send e-mail free.
"I suspect the cost of postage will start out small and it will rapidly escalate," he added.
In the meantime, the big Internet providers, including Microsoft and Yahoo, in recent weeks have renewed talks that stalled last year about creating technological standards to help identify the senders of legitimate e-mail. That way, spammers would either have to identify themselves or risk that users would discard all anonymous mail.
But for the big Internet access providers, or I.S.P.'s, the prospect of e-mail postage creating a new revenue stream that could help offset the cost of their e-mail systems is undeniably attractive.
"Sending large volumes of e-mail involve costs that are paid for by the I.S.P.'s and eventually by consumers," said Linda Beck, executive vice president for operations at EarthLink. "Should there be some sort of financial responsibility borne by the originators of these large volume programs? I think there should." E-mail between private individuals, she added, ought to remain free.
Differentiating among classes of e-mail is one of the substantial technical difficulties that e-mail postage proposals face. In wrestling with this matter, academic researchers have proposed complex stamp systems in which each e-mail recipient sets the price for a message to enter his or her in-box. Mr. Gates talked at Davos about a system that would allow users to waive charges for friends and relatives.
Goodmail, founded by Daniel T. Dreymann, an Israeli entrepreneur, is developing a system that it hopes will be easier to adopt. It proposes that only high-volume mailers pay postage at first, at a rate of a penny a message, with the money going to the e-mail recipient's Internet access provider. (The company suggests, but does not require, that the Internet providers share the payments with their users, either through rebates or by lowering monthly fees.)
Hire someone named Winifred Dowes and make her (or him) vice president of marketing. Win's first task is to come up with a name for your new program. Don't be surprised if you get MikeRoweSoft/MyCrowSoft WinDowes.:)
sewknee.net is available. sewknee.org is available. sewknee.biz is available. sewknee.info is available. sewknee.us is available. sewknee.cc is available. sewknee.bz is available. sewknee.tv is available.
Well, AppleCare for the iPod costs $59 and includes coverage for:
iPod
iPod battery
iPod earphones
iPod dock
iPod wired remote
What's more, they'll replace your iPod's battery if it is at least 50% depleted under AppleCare.
But then again, the iPod Battery Replacement Program linked above costs $99.
1. User buys new iPod.
2. Several years later, iPod dies.
3. User blames the problem on a dead battery (even though that might not be the case) and sends iPod back to Apple.
4. User gets new/refurbished iPod.
This isn't a BSOD, but I've watched in fascination as someone muddled with PowerPoint on the local cable access TV channel, trying to update the announcements -- to country music, nonethelessd.
While you're at it, a watercooled air-conditioning system would really r0x0r your h0uX0r.
put some lights on the inside
Neon lights, mind you. Neon lights!
Same ol' from Robertson and co, take an existing open source project, change a few graphics, and call it a revolutionary new product which will change the world.
Just like Microsoft?
Slashdot Mirror
Or just click here.
Gates Backs E-Mail Stamp in War on Spam
By SAUL HANSELL
Published: February 2, 2004
hould people have to buy electronic stamps to send e-mail?
Some Internet experts have long suggested that the rising tide of junk e-mail, or spam, would turn into a trickle if senders had to pay even as little as a penny for each message they sent. Such an amount might be minor for legitimate commerce and communications, but it could destroy businesses that send a million offers in hopes that 10 people will respond. The idea has been dismissed both as impractical and against the free spirit of the Internet.
Advertisement
Now, though, the idea of e-mail postage is getting a second look from the owners of the two largest e-mail systems in the world, Microsoft and Yahoo.
Ten days ago, Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that spam would not be a problem in two years, in part because of systems that would require people to pay money to send e-mail. Yahoo, meanwhile, is quietly evaluating an e-mail postage plan being developed by Goodmail, a Silicon Valley start-up company.
"The fundamental problem with spam is there is not enough friction in sending e-mail," said Brad Garlinghouse, Yahoo's manager for communications products.
The company is intrigued by the idea of postage, Mr. Garlinghouse said, because it would force mailers to send only those offers a significant number of people might accept. "All of a sudden, spammers can't behave without regard for the Internet providers' or end users' interests, " he said.
Neither Yahoo nor Microsoft have made any commitment to charging postage, in part because the idea still faces substantial opposition among Internet users.
"Damn if I will pay postage for my nice list," said David Farber, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, who runs a mailing list on technology and policy with 30,000 recipients. He said electronic postage systems are likely to be too complex and would charge noncommercial users who should be able to send e-mail free.
"I suspect the cost of postage will start out small and it will rapidly escalate," he added.
In the meantime, the big Internet providers, including Microsoft and Yahoo, in recent weeks have renewed talks that stalled last year about creating technological standards to help identify the senders of legitimate e-mail. That way, spammers would either have to identify themselves or risk that users would discard all anonymous mail.
But for the big Internet access providers, or I.S.P.'s, the prospect of e-mail postage creating a new revenue stream that could help offset the cost of their e-mail systems is undeniably attractive.
"Sending large volumes of e-mail involve costs that are paid for by the I.S.P.'s and eventually by consumers," said Linda Beck, executive vice president for operations at EarthLink. "Should there be some sort of financial responsibility borne by the originators of these large volume programs? I think there should." E-mail between private individuals, she added, ought to remain free.
Differentiating among classes of e-mail is one of the substantial technical difficulties that e-mail postage proposals face. In wrestling with this matter, academic researchers have proposed complex stamp systems in which each e-mail recipient sets the price for a message to enter his or her in-box. Mr. Gates talked at Davos about a system that would allow users to waive charges for friends and relatives.
Goodmail, founded by Daniel T. Dreymann, an Israeli entrepreneur, is developing a system that it hopes will be easier to adopt. It proposes that only high-volume mailers pay postage at first, at a rate of a penny a message, with the money going to the e-mail recipient's Internet access provider. (The company suggests, but does not require, that the Internet providers share the payments with their users, either through rebates or by lowering monthly fees.)
The Goodmail system is desi
Here.
there's no code in wine that simulates the processor/real hardware
True that, but what about other solutions for running PC software on your Power Mac G5?
$250K Bounty
Let's see...
$250,000/$699 =~ 357 copies of SCO/Linux
Parent is a troll!
Hire someone named Winifred Dowes and make her (or him) vice president of marketing. Win's first task is to come up with a name for your new program. Don't be surprised if you get MikeRoweSoft/MyCrowSoft WinDowes. :)
/. before.
Oh, wait a minute... someone with that name has apparently posted to
Actually, a search on Network Solutions' Web site shows that www.SewKnee.com is unavailable, so you're thwarted. :->
e e-joint.come nus.netj oint.netg i z
sewkneejoint.bize wknees.infoo j oint.usc
sew-knee.bzi nt.bz
sewknees.tv
However, you might like these domain names:
sewknee.net is available. sewknee.org is available. sewknee.biz is available. sewknee.info is available. sewknee.us is available. sewknee.cc is available. sewknee.bz is available. sewknee.tv is available.
or these:
sew-knee.com
sewgenus.com
sewknees.com
sewkn
sewkneejoint.com
sew-knee.net
sewg
sewknees.net
sewknee-joint.net
sewknee
sew-knee.org
sewgenus.org
sewknees.or
sewknee-joint.org
sewkneejoint.org
sew-knee.b
sewgenus.biz
sewknees.biz
sewknee-joint.biz
sew-knee.info
sewgenus.info
s
sewknee-joint.info
sewkneejoint.inf
sew-knee.us
sewgenus.us
sewknees.us
sewknee-
sewkneejoint.us
sew-knee.cc
sewgenus.c
sewknees.cc
sewknee-joint.cc
sewkneejoint.cc
sewgenus.bz
sewknees.bz
sewknee-jo
sewkneejoint.bz
sew-knee.tv
sewgenus.tv
sewknee-joint.tv
sewkneejoint.tv
I hope Sony doesn't "sew" (sue) you!
Well, you obviously don't live in the future!
Oddly enough, this Google search indicates that IIS may have a leak after all.
Those two screenshot links don't work... anybody got a mirror?
See my previous comment.
Well, I've got an anti -anti-spam law!
rm -rf yourass.bin
inhalation of airplane glue required
I never knew that letting someone else inhale the airplane glue for me would be so informative.
Thanks a bundle.
What's more, they'll replace your iPod's battery if it is at least 50% depleted under AppleCare. But then again, the iPod Battery Replacement Program linked above costs $99.
1. User buys new iPod.
2. Several years later, iPod dies.
3. User blames the problem on a dead battery (even though that might not be the case) and sends iPod back to Apple.
4. User gets new/refurbished iPod.
This isn't a BSOD, but I've watched in fascination as someone muddled with PowerPoint on the local cable access TV channel, trying to update the announcements -- to country music, nonethelessd.
Imagine a Virginia Tech cluster of these Big iMacs.
Oh, and would you like files with that, sir?
While you're at it, a watercooled air-conditioning system would really r0x0r your h0uX0r. put some lights on the inside Neon lights, mind you. Neon lights!
Mirror
At least we can still dream about Superdriving our combo and ordering a Big iMac and files to go with it.
Penn State students blast Napster deal
Same ol' from Robertson and co, take an existing open source project, change a few graphics, and call it a revolutionary new product which will change the world. Just like Microsoft?
Quoth the article:
There was a time when deejays could play whatever they wanted, and the radio was the place to go to hear a variety of music and discover new artists.
What about college radio stations? The station I volunteer at bans any Top 40 music from the past 10 years on our air, and we have loads of new music to discuss and recommend.