At what point...

[yesthattom]

Many email service providers claim that spam now outnumbers non-spam. At what point do we just give up and start using the phone?

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

We're coming up on a major election. I fully expect lots of phone spam. :)

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

fortunately, i have a screen machine :> between that, the do not call lists for mere telemarketers, and an answering machine, pretty much the only time the phone rings is when a live human who is probably okay, is doing it.

making my phone ring, after you've dialed the number, is a contract. can i enforce that in small claims? apparently: yes.

http://www.spectrumresearchinc.com/

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[lediva.livejournal.com]

Disposable E-mail addresses.

Credit card companies now can create disposable credit card numbers that are used for one single purchase and then invalidated. Why can't we do similarly with E-mail?

[awfief.livejournal.com]

I'll call you. . .just as soon as I finish reading my e-mail.

[auntiemisha.livejournal.com]

What is this new-fangled "phone" I keep hearing about? :-)

[marmota.livejournal.com]

*blink* I don't think I've ever considered email a reliable method of communication comparable to phones, even before the endless september or the spammers.

"I was understandably worried until I saw the letter was addressed to 'Occupant'."

[wayward-va.livejournal.com]

Email is a middle ground between the phone and postal mail. If that choice is removed it won't all gravitate to the phone. It will bifurcate back into the camps from whence it came, with some leftovers going into 'face-to-face meeting."

Talking to the animals,
-----wayward

Glad I don't get as much third-class mail about Viagra

[likethewatch.livejournal.com]

I use my land line the same way people I do free email accounts: my creditors have it and my friends know my cell number.

[arfur]

after we've given SPF a good try.

[docstrange.livejournal.com]

I had a journal entry about this very issue back about a year ago. It's gotten worse, but the steep climb in the curve has mellowed. Unfortunately, the real issues we have to deal with in email are: internationalization, compromised hosts (so IP spoof protection is irrelevant), and the 'first communication' problem. Solutions to those issues (heavy filtering, SPF, auto-responders for first comm) have their own serious drawbacks (mail loss or delay, SMTP forwarding, and doubling effective spam/worm volume, respectively). For the foreseeable future, plain old SMTP email is going to be a balancing act of value vs. effort. Many large corporations are already doing trusted partner whitelists and back-channels for avoiding filters, etc. for business critical communications.