Re: Thinking outside the box - send envelope first

ok - just a raw idea.

Suppose that instead of sending the email the sender sent the "envelope" 
first which is an invitation. The recipient then "fetches" the email 
from the sender's server in a separate transaction. No point in sending 
the email if the recipient isn't going to read it.

The envelope can be replied to with "yes - send it to me" or "this is 
abuse" or "block" or a number of other standard responses. It also lets 
the sender know it was read. Forwarded envelopes would then communicate 
back the new email address to the sender when read for those who might 
have changed their email address. This could also be an optional way of 
sending email.

This isn't entirely thought out but I just have a feeling this could be 
worth considering.

All envelopes would be encrypted with a private key and the public key 
would be found by DNS. This prevents spoofing domains. The email vendor 
could include additional information fields like country or whatever to 
help the user figure out if they want to retrieve the message.

Anyhow - just a raw thought.