Brad Templeton on E-stamps
Brad Templeton on
E-Stamps:
I first started thinking about this at the very start of the spam problem, (around 1995) as an interesting technical solution that hits at one of the root causes of spam. I leave it up here since it was my first idea in the quest for a solution to spam. I may have been the first to think of it, but many have also come up with the same idea independently, based on the thought that if you can make even a small negative cost to spam, the problem would go away.
However, I have since abandoned now even
oppose the idea for a variety of reasons. These include the total failure of the several serious attempts to build an online money micropayment system or other such infrastructure, and the almost impossible problems raised by any solution that needs new software at both sender and recipient. There are also free speech concerns. As such, it remains an academic exercise.
