Spam threatens Future of Email, warns Inventor

Eric Allman, who wrote the world's first internet mail programme in 1981 and is CTO of Sendmail, has said people will stop using email if the spam flood continues. According to Silicon.com, he believes users are facing a spam explosion and there is little companies can do to prevent it from worsening.

Allman said the main problem with spam is the fact that it's free to the sender and the only way to get rid of it would be to make the sender pay for the messages: 'We must make it chargeable to the sender. One way would be to use e-cash. Every time a spam is received, the receiver charges the sender.' This is assuming the real sender can be traced.

Allman added that defining the ambiguous nature of spam is the first major hurdle to overcome. 'There is no clear definition what spam is and what is not,' he said. 'If I sign up on someone's website and start receiving information from them, it's hard to say whether that's spam or not.'

Associated Link: Silicon.com

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