From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 07:14:25 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Spam-killing PGP5/ecash postage plugin Was Re: Remailer  chaining  plugin for Eudora
Message-ID: <v0311070cb02275a79bcd@[139.167.130.248]>
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Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 18:31:17 -0400
To: e$@thumper.vmeng.com, mac-crypto@thumper.vmeng.com
From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
Subject: Re: Spam-killing PGP5/ecash postage plugin Was Re: Remailer
 chaining  plugin for Eudora
Sender: <e$@vmeng.com>
Precedence: Bulk
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At 4:29 pm -0400 on 8/21/97, Somebody wrote:


> Sorry, but I think e-postage is among the worst ideas I've ever heard of. I
> don't think it's clear that it would eliminate spam. It might even increase
> it -- I'll bet the overall costs of email are lower than for paper mail --

But the relative present cost of spam (free) is, um, siginificantly, less
than it would cost with e$postage.

> and it would be the death of mailing lists.

Not at all. At the very least, mail from lists I'm subcribed to could come
postage due. And, since I'm the person who's charging postage, sender pays,
remember, I could charge free postage to my friends, like the 1000 or so in
cypherpunks, or the 300 on e$ and mac-crypto. :-).

There are work arounds. Face it, the world is going to specific cash
settled auction pricing on internet services, and not bulk, or even
probabalistic, pricing.

No problem. It'll mean cheaper services in the long run, not only because
someone then owns the "commons", but because efficient autonomously run
cash-settled auctions are always cheaper than transfer pricing and
"planning". It's like comparing the Chicago Board of Trade wheat pit, the
world's most efficient wheat market, to the committee which set Soviet
wheat production quotas. Notice who was selling wheat to whom in *that*
scenario. :-).

Reality, economic or otherwise, is not optional...

Cheers,
Bob Hettinga

-----------------
Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox
e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/




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-----------------
Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox
e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/