Simply put, an eMstamp functions similar to an ordinary postage stamp. Unlike an ordinary postage stamp, the eMstamp is a binary token, has
redeemable value, and costs you nothing. That is, the eMstamp is a binary
token that's used with e-mail to govern message delivery.
Principally designed to stop spam mail at the source, the eMstamp also lets
you create privacy levels for your inbox and helps prevent the spread of
e-mail viruses. Exactly how the eMstamp will benefit you depends on who you
are.
E-MAIL USERS
For the everyday e-mail user, the eMstamp is going to stop Spammers from
sending you all of that unsolicited mail. You're probably familiar with
filters that prevent spam mail from reaching your mailbox. The problem with
filters is that you don't know what's being filtered. You may be losing
legitimate mail that you wanted to get. You have no way of telling what
you're missing. This loss is especially true for newsletters and other
informative messages because filters often wrongfully identify these
messages as spam and throw them out.
A filter is like your postman
standing at your mailbox, reading your mail, and deciding which letters
he'll let you have. The eMstamp will stop the need for filters by making
it costly for a spammer to send unsolicited bulk e-mail.
INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS
Currently, the real cost of spam mail falls to the Internet Service Providers
that maintain e-mail servers and the mailboxes in which messages are
deposited for their intended recipients. It's these providers that are
spending millions of dollars every year trying to keep up with the deluge
of spam mail and trying to provide filters that will reduce the amount of
mail reaching your inbox.
It's at the mail server where the eMstamp system operates. EMstamp credits
are added to messages that are sent and collected from messages that are
received. In almost all instances, legitimate e-mail servers receive more
mail than is sent; therefore, ISPs are going to accumulate eMstamp credits.
Since the credits can be used to send additional mail or redeemed for a
portion of their value, the ISP can expect to make money from providing
e-mail services.
On the other hand, Spammers that are doing nothing but sending mail through
a server will have to buy credits to add to each message or else the message
will not be delivered. This will have the obvious effect of drastically
reducing the millions of spam messages that are sent every day. It also
means that ISPs will no longer have to rely on errant filters to protect
your mailbox.
E-MAIL MARKETERS
The eMstamp doesn't stop you from sending your advertising message. In fact
it can insure that your message gets to the intended recipient because ISPs
won't be using that capricious filter any more. Yes, it'll cost you a
little to send your message to subscribers but nowhere what it will cost
a spammer to indiscriminately send millions of messages. This means that
legitimate messages, newsletters, etc, from legitimate sources are going to
get to the intended recipient without being buried in the noise created by
spam mail.
CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS AND ANTI SPAM ACTIVISTS
The efforts of our public servants to stop the deluge of spam mail are
laudable but no amount of legislation is going to stop the wily spammer
operating out of foreign jurisdictions. The only way to stop spam is to
make it costly for the sender. The eMstamp system does just that by
requiring that eMstamp credits be purchased and added to every message
before delivery is allowed.
This is a technological solution to a thorny problem. No longer will the
government have to be involved in policing our e-mail system.
THE ENTERPRISE
One might expect that a system to resolve the e-mail spam problem is going to
be costly, cumbersome, and difficult to implement across all of the mail
servers on the Internet. And, that such a system will only add to Internet
traffic. The opposite is true. In the first place, stopping spam will
significantly reduce Internet traffic, especially since a lot of the traffic
now comes from redundant sending of spam mail to try and get some messages
past the filters.
The eMstamp system operates within the standard Internet e-mail protocol with
only one additional information step in the communication channel established
between servers. It can be implemented with a simple upgrade to current
e-mail servers using a plug-in software module. Open relays won't matter
and the software is protected from tampering using white box security.
IN REVIEW
As the "....real answer to spam" article referenced below will attest, imposing a fee on e-mail senders is the only viable way of addressing the spam problem. The eMstamp system does this at the server level, avoiding any burden on the end user. At the same time the eMstamp system compensates the receiving server. An added benefit of using an eMstamp is that recipients get to set a privacy level for their mailboxes.
Each of the parties involved in the current e-mail process will benefit in one way or another. E-Mail users are rid of most unwanted messages, ISPs no longer will have to spend money keeping up with the traffic burden and trying to provide new filtering mechanisms, legitimate e-mail marketers can now expect their messages to get through, congress can direct their attention to more important matters and not have to fund spam police, and finally, the enterprise can rest easy, knowing that a simple spam solution is at hand.