Toward an Information-Compatible Anti-Spam Strategy

As filters improve, the information assets of spammers become more valuable and lead to more, not less, overall spamming activity. This is troubling to contemplate, because it means no amount of spending on better filters will be enough. The next levels of escalation might then involve sender-receiver prearrangement, a new accounting infrastructure or, perhaps, payment or bonding prior to email delivery. We would characterize these steps as capitulation to the spammers, should they occur, because they would mean the end of the free, anonymous, and neutral email that we know today. To avoid capitulation, we argue that researchers should look beyond new spam-identification technologies and consider the information-economic implications of their deployment