[LINK] Govt struggling with spam: Alston

[Howard Lowndes]

On Thu, 28 Nov 2002 Bob.Smart@csiro.au wrote:

> > Govt struggling with spam: Alston
> > The federal government has issued its strongest indication yet it is
> > unlikely to undertake decisive measures to combat the welter of spam
> > plaguing Australia's e-mail inboxes.
>
> As a free speech advocate I'd be worried about attempts
> to ban spam since the boundary is so unclear (e.g.
> off-topic submissions to discussion forums).
>
> However it would be quite easy to design an e-mail
> system that was spam-free. And no, I don't mean automatic
> detection of spam by heuristic means. It does involve
> extra fiddling around by sender and receiver, but
> receivers should have that option and senders can then
> decide if they're willing to take the extra time.
>
> Some spammers do use fraudulent 'From:' addresses and the
> government can make itself useful by prosecuting them.

This does not address the spam that eminates from off-shore.

>
> Another useful thing that governments could do is create
> long term e-mail addresses for citizens. E.g. the Vic
> government could let users create username@id.vic.au.
> It would want to be integrated with an anti-spam system.
> However it should perhaps not have its own mail client
> and mail storage: mail would have to be forwarded
> elsewhere to a nominated and presumably secret e-mail
> mailbox. The id.vic.au e-mail addresses would have a
> long term future that only government can guarantee.

I doubt that many users would want to trust their private email to
anything that is run by a government, ...and what is to prevent those
addresses from being eventually harvested.

>
> If anyone wants to implement a spam-free e-mail service
> I'm happy to contribute a design - no certificates or
> other rocket science required.

Then why doesn't it exist already?  The world is crying out for it, except
for Alston apparently, who seemingly has the problem solved by not using
email.

>
> Bob
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>

-- 
Howard.
LANNet Computing Associates - Your Linux people
Contact detail at http://www.lannetlinux.com
"Flatter government, not fatter government." - me
 Get rid of the Australian states.
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