Bag's Rants

Spam. A radical solution is needed.

Just been looking at the Spam filter recently provided with my web hosting company 1&1. It has several options and every time I look at it I get the feeling that it's going to deprive me of Emails from someone I want to communicate with.

Some of the more recent ones don't even make sense. All the modifications to get past the filters mean that it is gibberish and because they can be detected just by a quick look it makes them easy to process. The only problem is the sheer volume of them. I've even started getting them from the Emails I've set up especially to deal with certain companies. Tut tut.

Spam only works because it is cheap and once the initial outlay is invested it costs very little to send out millions of Emails. Even a small fraction of a percent return on those Emails translates into profit. Anyway I think it's time for a radical approach and here it is.

Because the spammers must put contact details in the Emails then we should intercept that communication. Phone numbers, Email and Snail mail, redirect the lot to a funded intercept organisation. Filter out the ones who are responding to the Spam and kill them. The response rate will drop and voila, end of problem.

Looks good to me but I'm sure there are a couple of flaws in there. Minor ones of course.

posted by Bag @ 11:40 am