personally, i think he bit off a little more than he can chew:
One innovative idea ? and we need more information here ? is to gauge the cost of sending an e-mail according to the recipient's reaction. As reported in the (U.K.) Independent, Gates said the most promising was a method that would hit the sender in the pocket. People would set a level of monetary risk ? low or high, depending on their own choice ? for receiving e-mail from strangers. If the e-mail turned out to be from a long-lost relative, for example, the recipient would charge nothing. But if it is unwanted spam, the sender would have to fork out the cash.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm..._ptinbo31.html