Paying more to get a safer Internet
Larry Seltzer writes frequently about Internet security and in an eWeek article he proposes better controls over how email is sent from computers. He notes that this will cost but says
We might go on forever keeping spam and malware at these levels, but I think we can do a lot better, and all efforts to make big dents in these problems begin with authentication of e-mail. Wouldn’t you pay something more to have a safer Internet?
I find the responses of his readers to be pretty discouraging. Most of them seem mindlessly fixated on opposing the idea of increased cost without ever considering how much spam and phishing is already costing us all. One even accuses Seltzer of being an elitist who wants to keep the poor off the Internet. Seltzer’s particular proposal (it involves blocking port 25) is not the only possibility for controlling spam and phishing but something has to be done. As I have previously said, the fact that there is basically no added cost for email service, no matter how many messages are sent, has certainly led to abuses.
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