This is note quite right. While its impossible to built open system that would prevent all abuse, you can first of all built system that would provide good verification of who sender is and you can do a lot to make it difficult to send thousands of same emails or at least make it easy to identify who is doing it and give tools for sysadmins to monitor and prevent such activity. On Fri, 6 Dec 2002, Vernon Schryver wrote: > > From: Marc Schneiders <ietf@schneiders.org> > > > ... > > It might be easier to write a new protocol to succeed email, instant > > messaging, mobile phones (something useful in itself) with built-in > > abuse control from the start. > > That's another stupid crackpot "spam solution" that just won't go away. > > You cannot have "abuse control" built into a protocol that allows > strangers to send each other mail. Any mail protocol that lets you > receive mail from a stranger must also let the stranger send the same > message to you and to 30,000,000 of your closest friends. On the > other hand, if you want to only accept mail from people who are not > strangers, you can use any of the many official and ad hoc SMTP > extensions to ensure you only receive mail from them. > > If your computer system, mail protocol, or whatever knows that a > stranger is not a spammer, then the stranger is not really a stranger. > > > Vernon Schryver vjs@rhyolite.com