>As each individual news article is piped through a relatively small >number of servers in the "core" of the distribution system, it becomes >relatively easy to blacklist known offenders. That is, if they are >recognizable as such. This is where the authentication comes in. The >tricky part is optimizing the time/difficulty it takes to blacklist vs >that of obtaining a new identity. Even though this is a good point, I'd prefer to stay off the discussion of authentication, because the proposal need not depend on it, as you point out below... >Also note that with usenet news, unlike email, it is possible to remove >spam that has entered the system, limiting the audience that sees the >message and thus the effectiveness of spamming. Also bear in mind my point that the whole point of moving legitimate bulk messaging to "pull" is so that spam can be dealt with unambiguously by enforcers on bulk email. So spam (all remaining *BE) gets reduced by the paradigm switch to "pull" for legitimate bulk messaging. Since I assume mailing lists would still use email as incoming source primarily, then incoming spam is reduced. You could certainly switch to a authenticated interface (e.g. https web page) for incoming mailing list traffic, but I think that is unnecessary to my proposal. Also remember that some portion of legitimate bulk messaging is legitimate (meaning that receivers want it) corporate bulk mailings. They would also be forced to the "pull" paradigm, but not their normal single messaging, such as the receipt for what you buy on Amazon, only their bulk email. Shelby Moore http://AntiViotic.com