Re: [9fans] pathetic

[Geoff Collyer <geoff@collyer.net>]

Just getting most systems to strongly encourage TLS under SMTP would
impose a CPU tax on bulk mailers, though I don't know if it would be
high enough to really slow them down.

Yeah, caller-id for mail: when we find those weasels, oooh, we're
gonna moidalize 'em!  Not.  The NSA has bin Laden's phone number but
they still haven't caught him.

Our current model of e-mail is a dump truck pulling up to your front
door and pouring unfiltered, unsorted mail through your mail slot, in
a vast heap all over your floor, scaring your cats.  I think it would
be improved by moving to a model more like someone knocking at your
door and trying to persuade your butler to let him (the stranger) talk
to you.  If the butler knows the person at the door, he might let him
in, or might toss him out and bar the door.  If the butler doesn't
know the person, he might take the person's calling card, leaving you
to decide if you want to establish contact.  Over time, the butler
comes to know which people you want let through and which you want him
to call the police to remove / shoot / disappear.  Instead of one
trying to drink from a fire-hose (or cement chute!), each message
would result in a negotiation (perhaps very brief!), which is a more
orderly process, the rate of which can be controlled.