Redesigning the Net to save it from spam

To stem the unrelenting tidal wave of unsolicited, unwanted e-mail, people and companies are going to extraordinary lengths -- at considerable expense.

They mask their e-mail addresses, install filters, create white lists of approved senders and blacklists of bulk mailers. An entire software sector has sprung up to try to defeat the spammers. Yet inboxes are still bursting with unsolicited offers of prescription-free Viagra, get-rich schemes and pornography. (Ed: Anyone on staff signed up to news@neowin.net knows all about this.)

To halt spam cold, many experts agree, requires a radical technical solution at the heart of the Internet.

So an international organization best known for creating the Internet's plumbing has decided to explore fundamental changes in its architecture that would effect a fix. This would ultimately require a global consensus -- and software updates for everybody.

The Anti-Spam Research Group plans to hold its first physical meeting in San Francisco Thursday. Members have already been discussing the problem over e-mail with such gusto that some participants complain they're getting more messages on anti-spam than from spammers.

View: Anti-Spam Research Group