http://news.independent.co.uk/digita...p?story=484520
Gates plans an end to spam in two years
By Paul Geitner in Davos
25 January 2004
A spam-free world by 2006? That's what Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is promising.
"Two years from now, spam will be solved," he told a select group of World Economic Forum participants in Davis, Switzerland. Gates said his company is working on a "magic solution" based on the concept of "proof" - identifying the sender of the e-mail.
One method involves requiring the sender to solve a puzzle that only a flesh-and-blood person can handle. Another is a "computational puzzle" that a computer sending only a few messages could easily handle, but that would be prohibitively expensive for a mass-mailer.
But the most promising, Gates said, was a method that would hit the sender of an e-mail 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. "In the long run, the monetary [method] will be dominant," Gates predicted.
He conceded, however, that his prognostications have not always been on the mark. He misjudged the rising popularity of open-source software, epitomised by Linux, and the success of the Google search engine.
* Gates is to be awarded an honorary knighthood for "services to global enterprise". It is believed the recommendation was made by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.
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What do you think his chances of success are? Personally, as with practically all Microsoft products, there will be a huge exploit in it and it won't work but you never know he might get a bug-free version going for once. Even one with bugs might cut spam down significantly.
Gates plans an end to spam in two years
By Paul Geitner in Davos
25 January 2004
A spam-free world by 2006? That's what Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is promising.
"Two years from now, spam will be solved," he told a select group of World Economic Forum participants in Davis, Switzerland. Gates said his company is working on a "magic solution" based on the concept of "proof" - identifying the sender of the e-mail.
One method involves requiring the sender to solve a puzzle that only a flesh-and-blood person can handle. Another is a "computational puzzle" that a computer sending only a few messages could easily handle, but that would be prohibitively expensive for a mass-mailer.
But the most promising, Gates said, was a method that would hit the sender of an e-mail 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. "In the long run, the monetary [method] will be dominant," Gates predicted.
He conceded, however, that his prognostications have not always been on the mark. He misjudged the rising popularity of open-source software, epitomised by Linux, and the success of the Google search engine.
* Gates is to be awarded an honorary knighthood for "services to global enterprise". It is believed the recommendation was made by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.
-------------------------------------------------------
What do you think his chances of success are? Personally, as with practically all Microsoft products, there will be a huge exploit in it and it won't work but you never know he might get a bug-free version going for once. Even one with bugs might cut spam down significantly.
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