techFriday, June 02, 2006
Follow the link to the slashdot post which has a link to the original article.
The problem with email is that people are stupid and people are assholes.
Trying to fix this by changing the technology won't work.
The nice thing about email is that anyone can send a message to anyone else and all they need to know is the email address. Sure, this allows spam and all sorts of malicious emails, but it only takes a little bit of sense to combat these things (Dumbass, don't open an .exe attachment!)
Any sort of protocol level forced encryption, authentication, etc will only make email more of a pain in the ass. These things are available on top of the email protocol and there's no reason they couldn't be used without messing with the basic protocols or generic email capability.
The best way to prevent spam and other junk is to keep your email address out of spammer's hands. Don't give it out to the illegal/porn sites you're visiting every night, don't fall for the free crap scams where they "need" your email address, etc. Don't leave it on fast-food comment cards or other junk like that.
The problem with email is that people are stupid and people are assholes.
Trying to fix this by changing the technology won't work.
The nice thing about email is that anyone can send a message to anyone else and all they need to know is the email address. Sure, this allows spam and all sorts of malicious emails, but it only takes a little bit of sense to combat these things (Dumbass, don't open an .exe attachment!)
Any sort of protocol level forced encryption, authentication, etc will only make email more of a pain in the ass. These things are available on top of the email protocol and there's no reason they couldn't be used without messing with the basic protocols or generic email capability.
The best way to prevent spam and other junk is to keep your email address out of spammer's hands. Don't give it out to the illegal/porn sites you're visiting every night, don't fall for the free crap scams where they "need" your email address, etc. Don't leave it on fast-food comment cards or other junk like that.
