David vs Goliath?
Yahoo recently announced that they had the answer to spam. Friends of the Internet (FOTI), a one-man abuse fighter, challenges this claim and suggests a better alternative.
Online, August 27, 2009 (Newswire.com) - PULAU BATAM, Indonesia, 26th August 2009.
There is a story to the Friends of the Internet's claim that goes back for over seven years.
Peter Sidwell is the founder of FOTI, and is best known for having developed the INSOMNIA MLMeter that makes its user 100% scam-proof. He had an accident in 2002 and broke a hip. The hospital took seven weeks to botch the replacement operation and left him to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. The design of the MLMeter came about when he tried to earn a living on the Internet and, like thousands before him, got cheated and took a long time to figure out how the scam had been worked.
He lost a lot of sleep over that, which explains the name of the instrument that he designed to solve the scam problem. As a result, nobody need fall victim to a scam ever again..
He then turned his attention to the problem of unsolicited mail (SPAM) and came up with a solution that will eliminate SPAM completely and will be FREE TO EVERY USER as it will be part and parcel of their mail client system.
As his system involves getting the spam problem solved on an international basis, he submitted his idea to the United Nations (ITU) who said that he seemed to be on the right track but he would have to submit it through his country's delegate.
He wrote to the Government of his country who did not even acknowledge his letter and later did their own thing which did not come near to meeting FOTI's minimum specification for a viable system.
Yahoo's proposal and its defects make an opportunity to blow the dust off the FOTI system
MINIMUM SPECIFICATION.
The minimum specification for a system is:
1. It must be under the control of an International authority (under the auspices of the United Nations) hereinafter referred to as 'The Authority' and thereby the same rules will apply internationally.
2. It must be available to every Internet user.
3. It must give equal protection to every user at any given point in time.
4. It must be incorporated into all email systems.
5. It should not incur any additional costs for the user.
6. It must work
YAHOO'S PROPOSAL
Yahoo does not claim to eradicate spam - merely to reduce it by:
1. Making a small charge for every email sent out.
2. Putting a 'stamp' on outgoing mail to attest that is not spam.
3. Assuming that the cost will be prohibitive to spammers.
4. Assuming that the cost will be negligible to non-spammers.
It is FOTI's position that Yahoo's proposal is badly flawed.
For example:
1. Yahoo's system is a paid system whereas FOTI's system would be free as a part of the email system.
2. Users joining the Yahoo scheme will be paying to protect others but get no protection for themselves from the scheme.
3. It is not only prohibitively expensive to spammers ILLEGALLY sending out millions of emails - it is equally expensive to those sending out LEGAL mail in millions. The author's LEGAL mail would cost over $2,500 PER DAY!
FOTI's PROPOSAL
The FOTI system fully meets the specification.
It requires some minor modifications to email protocols including the following:
1. Extension of the email composition format to include a three-letter code to define the email content.
2. The provision of an online Master Code Index containing a code for each of a list of email content categories so that every user knows which code to use when sending email and which codes to block.
3. Provision of means to prevent an email being sent unless it has a valid code.
4. Random scanning to detect false codes; draconian punishment and media coverage of all prosecutions of offenders.
CONCLUSION
This release is skeletal, as the subject needs more space than is available.
To see full details of Yahoo's shortcomings and the FOTI AntiSpam System in detail, the reader is referred to the 'more information' link below.
The author's role as 'David' in dealing with the big guns has been a stumbling block and it is to be hoped that publicly challenging a big gun will get the FOTI proposal seen by people who have the authority and influence to bring about a proper evaluation of the FOTI AntiSpam system.
Then perhaps we can bring relief to that one fifth of the world's population who make up the 1.25 BILLION users of the Internet.
COPYRIGHT
The FOTI system is the author's intellectual property but all rights will be ceded to The Authority if and when one is appointed to adopt the system in principle.
The author, Peter Sidwell, is a Singaporean of English origin and lives in a small village in Indonesia. His career has always centred upon the cutting edge of technology. Since the accident, he has diverted his programming talent towards fighting Internet abuse and helping disabled people who are trying to earn a living on the Internet.
CONTACT
Name: Peter Sidwell
Address Tiban Indah Permai, Blok A2#13, Sekupang,
Batam 29432, Indonesia.
Phone: +62 778 351014
Website: http://www.insomnia2008.webs.com
Email merekilat@gmail.com?subject=PRIORITY
insomnia@indonpro.com?subject=PRIORITY
More Details: http://www.insomnia2008.webs.com/slideshows/2/08
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