Gates plans an end to spam in two years

[grinner]

Gates plans an end to spam in two years
By Paul Geitner in Davos

25 January 2004

A spam-free world by 2006? That's what Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is promising.

"Two years from now, spam will be solved," he told a select group of World Economic Forum participants in Davis, Switzerland. Gates said his company is working on a "magic solution" based on the concept of "proof" - identifying the sender of the e-mail.

One method involves requiring the sender to solve a puzzle that only a flesh-and-blood person can handle. Another is a "computational puzzle" that a computer sending only a few messages could easily handle, but that would be prohibitively expensive for a mass-mailer.

But the most promising, Gates said, was a method that would hit the sender of an e-mail in the pocket. People would set a level of monetary risk - low or high, depending on their own choice - for receiving e-mail from strangers.

If the e-mail turned out to be from a long-lost relative, for example, the recipient would charge nothing. But if it is unwanted spam, the sender would have to fork out the cash. "In the long run, the monetary [method] will be dominant," Gates predicted.

He conceded, however, that his prognostications have not always been on the mark. He misjudged the rising popularity of open-source software, epitomised by Linux, and the success of the Google search engine.

[who45]

No spam would be great. But you have to wonder if it is possible.

[grinner]

Gates will probably just steal the technology from somewhere else... like he always does.

[who45]

Would there be any doubt to that? But he would get all the credit....as usual.

[grinner]

:shocked: I can't believe we said that out loud... oh my... http://jenkinsonline.net/Pics/smilies/icon_disbelief.gif

[who45]

Originally posted by grinner
:shocked: I can't believe we said that out loud... oh my... http://jenkinsonline.net/Pics/smilies/icon_disbelief.gif :lol Oh, I'm sure we'll hear about it later.

[grinner]

better http://www.gallery.fatdogexchange.com/albums/albuo48/horrormovie.thumb.gif or it is http://www.gallery.fatdogexchange.com/albums/albuo48/jail.thumb.gif for us... :scare:

[who45]

Originally posted by grinner
better http://www.gallery.fatdogexchange.com/albums/albuo48/horrormovie.thumb.gif or it is http://www.gallery.fatdogexchange.com/albums/albuo48/jail.thumb.gif for us... :scare: :lol Then we'll have to get:tough:

[Darth Buddha]

I think spammers have shown they are always 2 steps ahead of anybody's attempts to squelch them.

I think Bill is overly optimistic... and of COURSE he would steal somebody else's tech!

[grinner]

Originally posted by who45
:lol Then we'll have to get:tough: maybe we need to gather the forces :multi: and :charge: to the attack :fencing: or just run away... :rallydriv cause he could get :pissed:

[grinner]

Originally posted by Darth Buddha
I think spammers have shown they are always 2 steps ahead of anybody's attempts to squelch them.

I think Bill is overly optimistic... and of COURSE he would steal somebody else's tech! but of course... that is what he does best.

[who45]

Originally posted by grinner
maybe we need to gather the forces :multi: and :charge: to the attack :fencing: or just run away... :rallydriv cause he could get :pissed: No we can't:flee: we must stand http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/images/smilies/1052922186.gif and :boom: at least until we get hit:tonbricks then we can climb our way out and enjoy some:beergood:.

[LadyCrais]

I installed Spamnet a few days ago (per someone's suggestion in another thread), and it is indeed catching 95% of it. It uses a continually updated database of what comprises spam, based on what the users themselves call spam. I really don't think anything but this kind of dynamic, ever-evolving system will work. It's only available for Outlook and Outlook Express (beta) so far, but it's doing a much better job than any attempts at filtering on my own have done. It's also reasonably cheap (though I still consider it insane to have to pay to keep some kind of control of my mail box).

www.spamnet.com

[fandom]

Originally posted by LadyCrais
It's also reasonably cheap (though I still consider it insane to have to pay to keep some kind of control of my mail box).


If you don't absolutely need to use Outlook, you can try Mozilla, it is free a comes with built-in spam filter.

http://www.mozilla.org/

[Sawyer's Miller]

Yeah Mozilla is cool, I've been using it for a couple of years now. Much better than IE. Can't wait for Thunderbird and Firebird to mature. They will blow IE and Outlook Express out of the water.

The problem with filtering spam at the client end, is that it still clutters up the servers, still has to be downloaded (unless you've set up the filter to delete at the server), and it eats bandwidth from the network.

And that is the problem. Each time the network is upgraded, some frellnik fills it up with more spam dren!

Some people are so inundated with the stuff that they've started hunting the spammers online, and then setting up stings to entrap them.

[fermicat]

Eliminate spam? Ha! Bill can't even get all the bugs out of his own software.....