I guess this didn't make it off list... On Fri, 13 Feb 2004, Ed Gerck wrote: > Not true. After you send an email and you'd get a bounce requesting an > encrypted message, with the public-key included. Actually, there are already a couple systems that work like this. Qsecretary is one. If I recall, someone is trying to patent this, even though as a scheme, its been around since majordomo, or longer. It doesn't work well in a number of situations. I think if qsecretary sees another qsecretary bounce, it can do the right thing (not positive about that---Dan?). But there is no guarentee that two different bounce/responder systems will work correctly. These systems also fail with agents. Eg, How does my voip gateway email me my phone messages? What about my Network management software? I want an email saying my customer just went down. How does my pager handle all of this? Agents are becoming more and more pervasive. No doubt my microwave will soon email me that my popcorn is ready, and my oven will tell me when to baste the turkey, and my car will email me when its time for service. These things work ok in small close knit groups, but don't scale well. The fact that they don't scale is what makes them useful to the small group. If you solve the agent/scaling problem, you solve the spammers problem, too, and the usefullness is lost. --Dean