Gates: Buy stamps to send e-mail

Found on CNN on Friday, 05 March 2004
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NEW YORK (AP) -- If the U.S. Postal Service delivered mail for free, our mailboxes would surely runneth over with more credit-card offers, sweepstakes entries, and supermarket fliers. That's why we get so much junk e-mail: It's essentially free to send. So Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates, among others, is now suggesting that we start buying "stamps" for e-mail.

Many Internet analysts worry, though, that turning e-mail into an economic commodity would undermine its value in democratizing communication. But let's start with the math: At perhaps a penny or less per item, e-mail postage wouldn't significantly dent the pocketbooks of people who send only a few messages a day. Not so for spammers who mail millions at a time.

Goodmail chief executive Richard Gingras said individuals might get to send a limited number for free, while mailing lists and nonprofit organizations might get price breaks.

Ok, something should be done against spam. Paying for emails might stop spam, but also a lot of usefull emails. Who would run a mailinglist with a few thousand recipients? Does the listadmin or the sender pay? Just take a look at all the lists for open-source projects. I hate spam, but I do not want a solution like that.