From: TruthMonger<nobody@huge.cajones>
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997 17:39:04 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: No Subject
Message-ID: <199703270136.TAA24233@wombat.sk.sympatico.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


its deployer.
Subject: Re: game theoretic analysis of junk mail


Bryce wrote:

> If I send a message to cpunks, and it is destined to reach
> 1000 mailboxes, do I have to include USD 100.00 with my
> message, which will be split by the majordomo into 1000
> 10-cent pieces?  Yikes!  And then I have to hope that all of
> the cypherpunks return my deposit.  Sounds like a bad bet.

  All discussions of eca$h charges for email seem to refer to a figure
of $ .10 as a reasonable sum. I suspect that this is due to people
subconsciously equating email with snail mail.
  I think that email, however, is a creature of its own design, and its
essence lies somewhere between snail mail and conversation.

  Think about this:
  What if, everytime you spoke to someone during the day, you had to
pay a dime? How would this change the interpersonal rapport that goes
on daily between friends, acquaintances, and strangers?

  What if you are a polite person, who thanks others regularly? And it
costs you a dime every time you do so?
  What if people rarely reply, "You're welcome." and it ends up costing
you an arm and a leg to be polite?
  This is just a simple conversational example, to illustrate that 
a small cost can have major ramifications when applied to various
situations.

  The Internet and the Web indeed have the potential to bring global
change in the arenas of knowledge and communications, but the question
is, will it do so in a manner that promotes equality, or in a manner
that promotes elitism and increased class-structures?

  The concept of limiting UCE/Spam through use of an email surcharge
may be viable, but then one has to deal with issues surrounding those
who have a need to communicate and few funds to devote towards doing
so. For example, people with disabilities who have legitimate needs
to receive support and information via support forums.
  The minute that $$$ enter the picture, then a class-system begins to
develop, and all sorts of individual, corporate and government entities
come out of the woodwork to level the playing field, or to build many
different levels on the playing field.

  The Internet's future may well parallel the development of the public
school system, in some ways. Public education was indeed something which
raised the level of all, but private schools made certain that those who
had the edge kept it.
  My view is that the nadir point in any new direction that society
takes comes fairly early after its inception. Thus the near future is
the time when it will be decided which direction the Net and the Web
will move, and in what areas its potential will be developed.
  Those who shape the Internet and the Web in the next year or so will
have a vast effect on the future.

TruthMonger