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> I'm not sure anything else could be immune to abuse to the same extent though. There are multiple solutions that work if you design the system that way from

by zrm 8y ago

> I'm not sure anything else could be immune to abuse to the same extent though. There are multiple solutions that work if you design the system that way from the outset (which is the same issue yours has). One was suggested above. You can have a human-readable public address but the first time a message is sent the sender has to commit $1 (or however much is necessary as a deterrent). If the recipient approves the message you get it back right away, if they ignore it you get it back in 30 days, if they mark you as spam you lose the money (and you know this and know that sending them more messages will be expensive). Then if you send a message (including a reply) to someone it automatically (but revokably) whitelists them, and whitelisted peers don't have to commit money to send to you. This also works for mailing lists, because then you subscribe by sending a request message, which whitelists the mailing list, and then they don't have to hold a huge reserve as long as they only send messages to people who actually asked for them. But none of that works for email because it wasn't implemented that way originally and it's hard to change it now.

naasking 8y ago
> You can have a human-readable public address but the first time a message is sent the sender has to commit $1 (or however much is necessary as a deterrent). Requiring payments destroys the anonymity though, that's why I don't like it. > But none of that works for email because it wasn't implemented that way originally and it's hard to change it now. Actually, my system can be adapted to email but you have to give up typing in email addresses manually. Most people don't do that anyway, so no big loss.
- zrm 8y ago
  > Requiring payments destroys the anonymity though, that's why I don't like it. Isn't that what all of this Bitcoin and Ethereum is supposed to be good for? > Actually, my system can be adapted to email but you have to give up typing in email addresses manually. Most people don't do that anyway, so no big loss. Don't they? People put email addresses on business cards and billboards and things like that. That's where you would need people to upgrade -- the fix would be to use QR codes but then you need everybody to support that (and understand what to do with it). Of course, people who have their own domains have long been doing something similar but with human readable names. You have example.com so you can create foo@example.com, bar@example.com, a hundred names for a hundred services. It would also be possible to do this with subdomains. So if you were bob@gmail.com, gmail could theoretically let you create aliases like foo@bob.gmail.com and use it for your business with Foo Corp. They do let you do something similar by ignoring dots in the address, so john.smith@gmail.com is automatically an alias for johnsmith@gmail.com, but if you use dots in different places for different activities then when one of them starts getting spammed you discontinue it and add a rule to trash everything sent to that alias. The inconvenience there is it's harder to remember what you used each variation for (and which ones you've already used) when it's time to rotate.

by zrm 8y ago

naasking 8y ago

> You can have a human-readable public address but the first time a message is sent the sender has to commit $1 (or however much is necessary as a deterrent). Requiring payments destroys the anonymity though, that's why I don't like it. > But none of that works for email because it wasn't implemented that way originally and it's hard to change it now. Actually, my system can be adapted to email but you have to give up typing in email addresses manually. Most people don't do that anyway, so no big loss.

zrm 8y ago
> Requiring payments destroys the anonymity though, that's why I don't like it. Isn't that what all of this Bitcoin and Ethereum is supposed to be good for? > Actually, my system can be adapted to email but you have to give up typing in email addresses manually. Most people don't do that anyway, so no big loss. Don't they? People put email addresses on business cards and billboards and things like that. That's where you would need people to upgrade -- the fix would be to use QR codes but then you need everybody to support that (and understand what to do with it). Of course, people who have their own domains have long been doing something similar but with human readable names. You have example.com so you can create foo@example.com, bar@example.com, a hundred names for a hundred services. It would also be possible to do this with subdomains. So if you were bob@gmail.com, gmail could theoretically let you create aliases like foo@bob.gmail.com and use it for your business with Foo Corp. They do let you do something similar by ignoring dots in the address, so john.smith@gmail.com is automatically an alias for johnsmith@gmail.com, but if you use dots in different places for different activities then when one of them starts getting spammed you discontinue it and add a rule to trash everything sent to that alias. The inconvenience there is it's harder to remember what you used each variation for (and which ones you've already used) when it's time to rotate.