Re: e-postage stamps, was Welcome to the new(ish) ASRG list

> > Um, because we talk to them, and have a pretty good idea how much a 
> > micropayment system that has to handle billions of transactions a day 
> > would cost?
>
>So 5 or so years ago you would've valued their opinion on whether they
>would ever advertise on a social network?

Huh?

Running a transaction system that has to handle billions of
transactions a day is a notably unsolved problem, and not for lack of
trying.  The synchronization required to deter double spending of
coins or stamps or whatever you want to call them is inherently very
difficult.

On the other hand, if we're allowed to wave our hands and assert that
it exists, please assert me a rainbow pony at the same time.

> As to billions of transactions what about the DNS system? Can't
> possibly work?

Please don't tell me that it's news to you that the DNS is read-only.

> For example given a cryptographic stamp and an ISP's motivation the
> ISP could verify each outgoing stamp used by a customer before letting
> it out since in theory they're the ones who issued those stamps, much
> like they might issue IP addresses and block any originating from w/in
> their network which isn't part of their re-delegation blocks.

You're describing rate limiting outgoing mail from a network's own
hosts.  It's not a bad idea, lots of ISPs do it, and it doesn't
require stamps.

R's,
John