Published Article Details Technological Solution to Spam E-mail Problem.

In the September issue of the online computer science journal FirstMonday (www.FirstMonday.org), Trevor Tompkins and Dan Handley (http://www.SpamSolution.org/) present a solution to the spam e-mail problem. The solution involves a simple add-on to existing e-mail programs that gives users complete control over who can send them e-mail.

Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) September 5, 2003 -- In the September issue of the online computer science journal FirstMonday (www.FirstMonday.org),
Trevor Tompkins and Dan Handley (http://www.SpamSolution.org/) present a solution to the spam e-mail problem. The solution involves a simple add-on to existing e-mail programs that gives users complete control over who can send them e-mail.
 
The software add-on authenticates senders and grants permission to receive e-mail from those senders using digital signatures." Digital signatures are already used widely to verify identities for accessing websites, and are an integral part of many software encryption programs. The solution Tompkins and Handley propose applies this digital signature technology to current e-mail programs. The solution is relatively easy to implement and is practically transparent to end users. With the new system in place, legitimate e-mail will get through as it normally would, but spam is stopped cold. The solution will be far more effective and reliable than current proposed software solutions such as spam filters. It will also render much of the newly-proposed legislation concerning spam unnecessary.
 
We are concerned about the kinds of anti-spam legislation that some of our lawmakers are proposing," says Tompkins. For instance, Senator
Charles Schumer of New York is proposing a `do-not-e-mail registry similar to the 'do-not-call registries for telemarketers. Zoe Lofgren of California is even proposing a bounty be placed on spammers. We think that these measures will be ineffective at stopping spam, and instead will end up having terrible unintended consequences for the citizen. We think a technological solution is the better way, and we have that."
 
The beauty of this solution," says Handley, is that it uses the same principles that people naturally use in face-to-face encounters without
really thinking about it. When we see people on the street, we unconsciously 'authenticate their identities first, and then we decide whether or not we want to talk to them and for how long. We dont let people 'spam us in real life like we do on the Internet. Why shouldnt electronic communications work the same way?"
 
Bill Gates has said that there is no magic bullet" for stopping spam. Tompkins and Handley disagree, and outline just such a solution in their proposal.