Re: Idea for alternative hashcash/antispam implementation.

>> However much we'd like it to be, hashcash by itself does not make an 
>> anti-spam scheme.  Initially at least, the best places for it to work 
>> are as a false-positive mitigator (in conjunction with a content 
>> filter or DNSBL) and/or an introducer (in conjunction with a 
>> whitelist).  I have in development a scheme which explicitly combines 
>> both of these approaches, and Eric has something broadly similar in 
>> CAMRAM.
>
> half agreement.  If you look at the camram site and go to the zombie 
> logic/zombie calculator section, he quickly learn one thing (at lease 
> it reinforced what I figured was true).  By playing with stamp size 
> and stamp usage patterns, Hashcash (or something like it) will 
> actually reduce the amount of spam on the net.

Well, one hopes that will be an emergent effect.  Certainly because 
content filters 'leak' on a statistical basis, the spammers' adaptation 
behaviour has been to increase volume, so we will know whether a 
deployment of hashcash has been particularly successful if the spammers 
adapt to *that* - and end up reducing their own volume.

> Jonathan, if your scheme is any good, I will have no qualms about 
> lifting it and giving proper attribution.  We really need to focus on 
> making this technology easily available to others and I believe the 
> shortest path that is a devil Linux based CD-ROM.

Acknowledged.  Right now my priority is to keep my finances vaguely 
above the waterline, however, so hashcash is second or third on the 
project list.

--------------------------------------------------------------
from:     Jonathan "Chromatix" Morton
mail:     [email protected]
website:  http://www.chromatix.uklinux.net/
tagline:  The key to knowledge is not to rely on people to teach you it.