The expectation of anonymity issue [LWN.net]

The expectation of anonymity issue

Posted Sep 6, 2004 5:33 UTC (Mon) by eru (subscriber, #2753)
In reply to: That much trouble? by khim
Parent article: Debian rejects Sender ID

Why so ? Easy. Problem is with users, not with SMTP. What mail users demand is the following:
1. I do no want to get spam (== mail from unknown anonymous recepients).
2. I must be able to send spam (== anonymous mail via unregistered ISP).

I'm certain most users would be very happy to compromise on 2 if it would ensure 1. Until some years ago, most ordinary users actually assumed that "from" e-mail addresses are reliable and messages are traceable. It did not deter them from using e-mail. Only the spam catastrophe has made people more widely aware that the "from" field is just an arbitrary text that may have no relation to reality.

Set up an alternate e-mail system that has no anonymity, but no spam or viruses either, and I think a lot of users would be interested.

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