A realistic solution to SPAM

[John Scott]

I don't think laws will work. It's too easy to send spam from outside the jurisdiction of those laws. But in the meantime email becomes unreliable as a means of communication.

What is the ultimate solution?

[MadEvan]

Blocking the networks sending loads of spam. Make everyone profiting from it accountable.

[ash1]

dont let ppl send more than 10 ppl an email

[Nicole]

I don't believe there is an "ultimate solution". People are gonna spam. All we can do is use some heavy duty spam filters and deal with it.

[Bestmiler]

Originally Posted by ash1

dont let ppl send more than 10 ppl an email

That would be a good idea but some people need to send more than 10 emails/day (not talking about spammers). I think that email spam detectors need to get better.

[littleFella]

Originally Posted by ash1

dont let ppl send more than 10 ppl an email

The question was about REALISTIC solutions.

[Pretend]

Even if they made it where you couldn't send more than ten people an email - and bestmiler, I'm assuming he meant the same email at the same time - then people would just make bots to get around that. Even if they had something keep them from sending an email containing the same text, people would manage to find some way around it.

The beauty of mankind, we can think.

The ultimate solution to spam, John, would be to get rid of email. We all know that that isn't going to happen, and no reason it should... but that is the ultimate solution, hell, the only real solution.

[maldives]

Originally Posted by ash1

dont let ppl send more than 10 ppl an email

Not an option for people like myself. It can work for individuals but for big companies it is not an option.

[mothproof]

im ready to accept spam as a way of life.

just like weeds are what make gardens challenging

[G10]

Spam filters are definately a good thing but it is not getting to the root of the problem, just filtering out the effects of it.

A possibility could be that people should pay for email addresses, almost like buying a domain name.

I am not talking about some extortionate amount, something like $10 per address or the like and all addresses should be registered with their own countries respective board.

This could cut down on the amount of unrequired email accounts people have and also makes them liable for their own address.

I know that it isn't too practical due to the work involved of setting up and maintaining such a system but an idea similar may reduce spam.

[Tomassi]

Get to the source, more involvement of police etc.

A big spammer got caught a couple of weeks ago, and I swear, my mailbox got a third less than usual the following week

[Julie]

What I dislike about current spam filters is that they seem to catch my legitimate emails all because they include a URL in the content, and therefore people don't receive them. It's very frustrating.

The whole spam issue is a difficult one. I don't think there is any solution to it. It's like one of those annoying things that I think we have to accept as a way of life, and figure out the best way of dealing with it.... but it seems like there are downsides to any approach that combats it.

[ScriptMan]

Originally Posted by MadEvan

Blocking the networks sending loads of spam. Make everyone profiting from it accountable.

It isn't going to happen but the above would solve the problem.

Make Spam legal. Anyone can send anthing as long as the first 3 letters of the subject are ADV.

Block IPs, a range of IPs or even an entire country if they fail to follow the mandates of using ADV. There really isn't anyone in China I care to get mail from anyway.

[Taltos]

Killer questions. It is and always will be an "arms race" of a sort. No matter what system someone comes up with, there will always be a way around it. If there is a real solution I think it comes down to spam not being profitable. I'm not sure how you do that. There will always be suckers who go for what the spam presents. As long as that happens, spam will continue. Any way of imposing fines to make it unprofitable will fit the same category as stopping it in the first place. New way to detect it so you could fine them = New way to avoid detection so they don't get fined.

[bytech]

1 penny per Email costs sound like a do-able idea.

[SVB]

There is no realistic solution.

[Dustin07]

1 penny per Email costs sound like a do-able idea.

I was actually thinking the same thing. It's really not a bad idea. It may encourage corporations and friends to use IM more often, but it could really slow down spam. But how to pull it off?? All free email hosts would have to start charging at the same time other wise there would be a mass exodus from one to the other.

[SVB]

It would also cost each of my tutors here at university hundreds every time they want to send out a simple message to each student. Not a realistic idea.

[Dustin07]

no charge for .edu's?