Decius wrote:
] ] So, between spam, anti-spam blacklists, rogue packets,
] ] never-forgetting search engines, viruses, old machines,
] ] bad regulatory bodies, and bad implementations, I fear
] ] that the open Internet is going to die sooner than I
] ] would have expected. In its place I expect to see a more
] ] fragmented network - one in which only "approved"
] ] end-to-end communications will be permitted.
]
] I happen to think this is true. Who is doing the approval is
] the question. The fact is that if anyone can decide how things
] are approved, then everything is fine. I cut my whack account
] over to a challenge response system. Bang, its useable again.
] I get no spam there at all, and all the people I talk to are
] getting through just fine. I'm happy. I think it will work
] just fine... In fact, if the internet had more close knit
] communities I think it would be better off.
]
] Moving to the country side to escape the noise is not the same
] as censorship.

At CMU, my friend's boss has started talking about fixing spam via PGP; if your mail to me isn't signed with a key I know, you get a mail back saying it will be queued for a day or something before I'll look at it. If you reply to that mail, its sent on through immediately. We're talking about implementing it both in MTAs and also mail servers.

I will try to blog more about this as it develops.

RE: The end of the open internet...