From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Thu, 5 Jan 95 11:50:51 PST
To: jpb@gate.net
Subject: Re: Remailer postage
In-Reply-To: <199501051802.NAA22909@seminole.gate.net>
Message-ID: <199501051942.LAA07959@netcom8.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


jpb@gate.net wrote:

> I am concerned about the ethics of having a paymailer feed into the free
> remailer soup - how would their operators react if I'm effectively making money 
> (no matter how little) off of them?

I can't speak for others, but making money off remailing is a GOOD
THING. 

If other remailers wish to give their services away for free, so be
it. There will likely be an ecology of remailers with different fee
schedules, different technical capabilities, and different policies.
Personally, I think that "free remailers" will always be with us, but
will come and go, as spammers and the like abuse them. The invisible
hand will of course choose some and reject others.

And a for-pay remailer is not making money "off them" (the other
remailers), as the paying customer is the one who is making the choice
of which remailers to use, which to pay digital postage on, etc.

[Comment: I see disdainful comments here about the profit motive,
about for-pay services, etc. I urge folks to carefully think about
this point. Services that are "free" are actualy paid for by someone,
in various ways and for various motivations. Some things are worth
paying for, some are not. Any customer who pays for remailing has made
an uncoerced, voluntary decision that his interests are better
serviced by paying for remailing than by using a free remailer. Sounds
fair to me.]

--Tim May


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