January 19, 2004
Content vs. Filters
Mark Hurst says the value is with the latter.
Any unbounded bitstream tends to irrelevance.
Bits are so easy to create, copy, and send that without some filtering process, the worth of the entire bitstream decays rapidly. A good example is the e-mail inbox. Many e-mail users have no discipline about deleting or filtering their mail, and thus the bits that flow in—spam and legitimate mail together—clutter the inbox to an extent that the worth of the inbox overall tends to zero.
One of many interesting posts over at
edge.org
Posted by Arnold at 1:51 PM |
Email this entry
| Category:
economics of content
Why aren't we framing spamming as a pollution problem? The public (even inbred conservative Republicans) have no tolerance for somebody who would dump gallons of used motor oil in a lake, so why shouldn't we have the same intolerance with those who would dump Viagra, mortgages, and porn in our inboxes?
It is such a small, annoying percentage of the population that spams... and yet they are close to ruining e-mail as an effective communication medium. Why not round the people up who do this and... actually, if Howard Dean wants to save his sorry campaign, he could propose the death penalty for spam kingpins. I would switch parties to vote for someone with enough vision to advocate that.
-Brad
Posted by Brad Hutchings on January 19, 2004 10:22 PM | Permalink to Comment
Why aren't we framing spamming as a pollution problem? The public (even inbred conservative Republicans) have no tolerance for somebody who would dump gallons of used motor oil in a lake, so why shouldn't we have the same intolerance with those who would dump Viagra, mortgages, and porn in our inboxes?
It is such a small, annoying percentage of the population that spams... and yet they are close to ruining e-mail as an effective communication medium. Why not round the people up who do this and... actually, if Howard Dean wants to save his sorry campaign, he could propose the death penalty for spam kingpins. I would switch parties to vote for someone with enough vision to advocate that.
-Brad
Posted by Brad Hutchings on January 19, 2004 10:22 PM | Permalink to Comment