A Sensitive Offer

[doogso]

Hi!

I know I'm gonna be criticized and even hated but we DO live in a free market.
I can sell lists of valid e-mail addresses, categorized by area, e-mail service provider, even name or country!
Price for one e-mail address is 0.05 BTC non-negotiable.

You can tell me what you want, i.e.:
10000 e-mail addresses from Portugal.
15812 e-mail gmail addresses from US.
20000 e-mail adresses that belongs to 'John'
200000 random e-mail addresses.

For 0.5 BTC I can offer corresponding names, address and telephone number for each e-mail address (only for purchases more than 2000 e-mail addresses).
Also, for 5 BTC i can search an e-mail address and tell the corresponding name, address and telephone number (payment made only if the e-mail address is found).

In order to avoid scams, I will truncate each request into multiple .txt files, the first one being no longer than 1000 entries and you will pay for each one subsequently, after you receive it. Optionally I can format the files with tabs or as CSV, etc.

[Vinnie]

Hi!

I know I'm gonna be criticized and even hated but we DO live in a free market.

Free markets have moderated forums.

[nelisky]

I'm trying real hard to understand what the 'Sensitive' in the topic has to do with the offer...

Also, if I get emails from unknown people selling me viagra for bitcoins, now I know who to target my wrath at

[nanotube]

great, that opens the market for a hashcash-style email system of spam prevention.

"Your email is being held in a delivery queue, pending confirmation that you're a real person. If you want me to read your email, please send 0.05 btc to this address: <bitcoin address>, to release the email for delivery."

[Vinnie]

great, that opens the market for a hashcash-style email system of spam prevention.

"Your email is being held in a delivery queue, pending confirmation that you're a real person. If you want me to read your email, please send 0.05 btc to this address: <bitcoin address>, to release the email for delivery."

Nice! That would raise the price of sending 1,000,000 spam messages by about $10,000, right?

[SmokeTooMuch]

You should sell it at other forums.
I don't think you will have a big customer base here.

[kiba]

The free market are "self-regulating" ya know?

[FatherMcGruder]

Nice! That would raise the price of sending 1,000,000 spam messages by about $10,000, right?

It would just double e-mail traffic. Might be good for busy people though. Non-spammers might actually pay to have their message read by someone important a presumably busy.

[wumpus]

200000 random e-mail addresses.

I can sell you infinite random e-mail addresses for free, just let me get the generator script ready

[nanotube]

Nice! That would raise the price of sending 1,000,000 spam messages by about $10,000, right?

yep. that said, the big barrier is bitcoin adoption... and it won't necessarily be any better than existing systems where the sender gets an autoresponse, where he can click a link to confirm his real-personhood. but still, a good possibility, for those of us who are important

It would just double e-mail traffic. Might be good for busy people though. Non-spammers might actually pay to have their message read by someone important a presumably busy.

yes it would - but as long as /i/ don't see the extra traffic, it's not my problem.

[Vinnie]

Man, if I got a penny for every spam message I've received....

[FatherMcGruder]

yes it would - but as long as /i/ don't see the extra traffic, it's not my problem.

It is if the servers you depend on have trouble delivering your messages as a result of the extra traffic.

[Vinnie]

yes it would - but as long as /i/ don't see the extra traffic, it's not my problem.

It is if the servers you depend on have trouble delivering your messages as a result of the extra traffic.

But would raising the cost of sending spam lead to a decrease in spam volume? Would it lose its effectiveness as a result of this extra step leading to further decreases in volume?

[FatherMcGruder]

But would raising the cost of sending spam lead to a decrease in spam volume? Would it lose its effectiveness as a result of this extra step leading to further decreases in volume?

Spam volume would have to decrease by half in order to break even, and you'd have to get almost everyone with an e-mail address to participate. I suppose the plan might work if implemented at the servers, but then you wouldn't know if your granny keeps getting pinged for bitcoins every time she tries to e-mail you.

[Bimmerhead]

Nice! That would raise the price of sending 1,000,000 spam messages by about $10,000, right?

yep. that said, the big barrier is bitcoin adoption... and it won't necessarily be any better than existing systems where the sender gets an autoresponse, where he can click a link to confirm his real-personhood. but still, a good possibility, for those of us who are important

I think your idea is better than an autoresponse because if the person sending you the email (and the bitcoin) is a friend that you want to hear from, then you can refund the bitcoin.  If it is a spammer or a stalker, you've just earned the bitcoin.

Yes, bitcoin adoption is a barrier, but on the other hand this could be the application that spurs mainstream adoption of bitcoin.  It's no longer bitcoin the P2P cryptocurrency, it's now "Bitcoin: spam-free email" (or "Bitcoin! Get paid to read email!").

So should it be an add-on for Outlook, or a standalone bitcoin email client?

[kiba]

I think your idea is better than an autoresponse because if the person sending you the email (and the bitcoin) is a friend that you want to hear from, then you can refund the bitcoin.  If it is a spammer or a stalker, you've just earned the bitcoin.

Yes, bitcoin adoption is a barrier, but on the other hand this could be the application that spurs mainstream adoption of bitcoin.  It's no longer bitcoin the P2P cryptocurrency, it's now "Bitcoin: spam-free email" (or "Bitcoin! Get paid to read email!").

So should it be an add-on for Outlook, or a standalone bitcoin email client?

Spammy emails are a solved problem.

[nanotube]

Nice! That would raise the price of sending 1,000,000 spam messages by about $10,000, right?

yep. that said, the big barrier is bitcoin adoption... and it won't necessarily be any better than existing systems where the sender gets an autoresponse, where he can click a link to confirm his real-personhood. but still, a good possibility, for those of us who are important

I think your idea is better than an autoresponse because if the person sending you the email (and the bitcoin) is a friend that you want to hear from, then you can refund the bitcoin.  If it is a spammer or a stalker, you've just earned the bitcoin.

Yes, bitcoin adoption is a barrier, but on the other hand this could be the application that spurs mainstream adoption of bitcoin.  It's no longer bitcoin the P2P cryptocurrency, it's now "Bitcoin: spam-free email" (or "Bitcoin! Get paid to read email!").

So should it be an add-on for Outlook, or a standalone bitcoin email client?

s/outlook/thunderbird/

yes, refunds are a good idea. though it may be simpler to just be able to whitelist certain addresses so they don't require payment...

[Vinnie]

s/outlook/thunderbird/

yes, refunds are a good idea. though it may be simpler to just be able to whitelist certain addresses so they don't require payment...

Raise it to .25 BTC? At 10 to 15 cents you'd probably only get good emails from people who really want to contact you, people you would refund once they've been screened. Whitelists have to be built somehow, right?

[nelisky]

Sender sends email
Sender pays to the clearthingy escrow -> Email is unblocked
Receiver clicks "refund"
Sender/Recipient pair whitelisted, not more need to pay escrow

All emails not accepted by recipient have the payment revert to escrow for keeping the system

Where do I sign up for such an email service?

[nanotube]

nice idea, nelisky we'd need an email server capable of handling this, though.

also, the 'hashcash' idea has been tried (see hashcash.org), but has never garnered much adoption. and bitcoin is, at the end of the day, a form of hashcash.

but i'd be curious to see what comes out.