will spammers early adopt hashcash? (Re: Spam Spotlight on Reputation)

Russell Nelson nelson at crynwr.com
Tue Sep 14 12:26:12 EDT 2004


(everybody is on the mailing list; why all the CC's?)

Adam Back writes:
 > Will it be enough -- we don't know yet, but if widely deployed it
 > would make spammers adapt.  We just don't yet know how they will
 > adapt.

Cryptography is not about math; it's not about secrets; it's not about
security.  It's about economics.  I'd really like to see people NOT
talk about the security of cryptography, but instead of about the cost
of it.  If the cost of breaking a system exceeds the value of an
identifiable message, nobody will bother breaking it.  If the cost of
using a system exceeds the value of the system, nobody will bother
using it.

So, in this context, Ben & Richards paper is not so much that
"hashcash won't work" but instead "the value of using hashcash is
exceeded by the cost of using it."

-- 
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521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 212-202-2318 voice | them into more subtle
Potsdam, NY 13676-3213  | FWD# 404529 via VOIP  | problems.

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