Re: where do I sign up?

i hope your thesis will produce some interesting work.  i have been
wondering actually, about the "next gen" email system being implemented as
some kind of jabber extension..or using smilar xml-based concepts.  i think
the biggest two issues any email replacement has got to solve are pervasive
encryption/authentication/repudiability/perfect-forward-secrecy, and
unsolicited commercial email.

i don't know that i agree with the idea of the sender's storing the message
for the recipient to download it, although it is interesting.  either way,
it takes care of verifying the accuracy of the sender's address, which is
what makes jabber so great as an im protocol.  i would envision something
where a recipient can mark a message as "spam", and his server can send a
"spam complaint" to the sender's server.  better yet, authorization
requirements could be set up, just like with jabber.  you'd actually see a
request to allow someone to message you, and until you authorized him, he
couldn't.  this could be contingent upon things like "spam score" of the
message.  messages with a low enough score (configurable by the user) could
be allowed to pass without authorization.

i think the most important thing is that someone develops a system that is
really good, and addresses all the important issues, and has an
implementation, not just a well written spec.  we need a replacement for
email that is usable and practical, and offers pervasive encryption (along
with repudiable authentication and perfect forward secrecy).  my mom
shouldn't have to know a single thing about encryption to receive an
encrypted message from me.  we've been using this outdated crap called email
for tooooo long.  if you're gonna put in the work to offer a solution, my
suggestion is to make a real, usable, practical, solution.  and if you do
it, i'll be more than happy to donate some cash to the cause.  50 bucks here
or there is worth it, and maybe others would donate as well, if you could
convince them of the importance of it.  geeks of course..they'd all have to
be geeks cause no one else realizes there's a problem.

one final word..please, dear god, do not try to make something that is
backward compatible with smtp or any part of current email.  backward
compatibility is what stifles the progress of technology, and there's no
good reason for it in this case.  if you want to make a system where normal
email users can contact a "neumail" user, and vice versa, just make a
neumail service provider that allows both.  it could just look at the
address and check to see whether it's a neumail address, and if not, send it
via smtp.  for receiving, it could just have a mail server on it as well,
and legacy "email" could have its own inbox or however you would want to
implement it.  there is no need to alter the "neumal" protocol itself to
deal with legacy email.

cheerio,
clay

--
"..any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it
requires--
a wiretap requires a court order. ..Constitutional guarantees are in place
when it comes
to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the
Constitution."

George W. Bush, 2004 April 20

"..the NSA has been monitoring phone calls and e-mails in which one party to
the
conversation was inside the United States. The warrantless wiretaps
allegedly fly in
the face of standing federal surveillance law."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,180149,00.html