No doubt about it. "Spam" (unsolicited commercial email) threatens to paralyze and ultimately destroy
email system as it currently exists on Internet.
Anyone with an email address can attest to fact that avalanche of Spam has only increased in last year and shows no sign of stopping.
However, current system many Internet Service Providers (ISP's) use to deal with Spam may just destroy Internet's email system long before spammers do.
Now, I won't deny that weight of Spam on any ISP's resources can rate very significant.
It's been estimated that between 30-60% of all email now sent is Spam!
This means that 30-60% an ISP's system resources (bandwidth, hardware, system maintenance) go towards delivering messages nobody wants to receive.
Out of self-defense, many ISP's turn to third party services like SpamCop, SPEWS (Spam Prevention Early Warning System), and SpamHaus to help them identify sources of spam and block messages before their email systems get clogged.
No Trial - No Defense - Guilty!
In theory, it's a great system.
In practice, it creates a situation resembling a witch hunt where accused gets burned at stake without a trial, let alone ability to face their accuser. Here's how system works.
Let's say a business habitually sends legitimate email to its customers or prospects who asked to receive email.
As long as nobody complains, life proceeds as normal.
But then let's say one of those people forgets they opted in to business's email list and reports an email message as spam to one of services I mentioned above.
