more Microsoft FUD on the SPAM front

The reason SPAM works today is that the economics work. Many people have solutions that propose to change the economics. The real thing you want to do is raise the cost of sending an e-mail. But not so much that normal people sending a normal amount of mail will notice or have to pay extra. One way is to charge micropayments for each e-mail sent out. And get a credit for each received. The probelm with clearing all those micro-payments will make that one not fly.

Then there is the idea of making senders pay with something else. Like CPU and memory power. Apparently Microsoft has figured this out BBC NEWS | Technology | Microsoft aims to make spammers pay (the technique has been around for more than a decade) and is thinking of adding it to Exchange. I don’t think even Microsoft has enough MTA’s out there to make a change like this. And it has the potential for back-firing in many ways just like challenge response does (causing the recipient to be a spammer).

The thinking is along the right path. Change the equation. Microsoft won’t be the one that fixes it though.