Choicemail is a new strategy in anti-spam software. It works by requiring anyone sending you email to register before their email will be allowed. Once they have registered, all of their future emails will be allowed without registering again. Some people think it is a bad idea and "another assault on the Internet's end-to-end architecture" [Jon's Radio]. I think it holds a lot of potential.

Whitelisting is one method that has been suggested for controlling spam. Unfortunately, creating long lists of all of the people who should be allowed to send you email is tedious, error prone and just not reasonable. Plus, you never know who you have blocked and there is no way for people who have been blocked to contact you. On the other hand, automating the process could make whitelisting workable. By requiring the would-be emailer to register, it is hoped that spammers could be thwarted.

My biggest concern with this idea is that it may be possible to automate the registration process. If enough people decide to use Choicemail, or a similar service, the spammers are likely to counter by creating systems that will automatically register themselves. However, this does present the problem that spammers would be required to send their email with real return addresses, a practice that is often avoided.

Even if Choicemail is not the solution to spam, it is certainly a potential tool in the anti-spam arsenal.
8:04:54 AM