In April 82% of email was spam--a new record. And yet, 36% of those using spam filters don't refine them after initial installation. Even worse, 28% of companies in the same survey don't use spam filters at all. I read these statistics, and they sound alarming. Why would so many people leave themselves so woefully unprotected from this scourge?

And then I think again. Is a country where every email inbox is adequately protected the American Dream? How about an internet where no email inbox needs a spam filter! Okay, that's a little idealistic. How about if all I ask is an internet where protection is cheap and easy? We can protect our homes from burglars (not completely, but bear with me) by putting locks on our doors and windows, all for a negligible fraction of the cost of the home, and then getting in the habit of using them, which requires negligible effort. Protecting your inbox from spam is a less rosy picture. Spam filters can cost as much as or more than your inbox and email client combined (or they can be free--it varies). Setting filters up can be more difficult that setting up your email client. Training a Bayesian filter takes a lot of work. Maintaining other types of filters does too. And even with all that done, your inbox keeps getting "broken into". While I don't mind making trivial efforts to protect myself from things that I shouldn't have to protect myself from, all the cost and effort required to avoid being completely deluged in spam is just downright offensive. Perhaps the fact that some people don't go through it all is partly a result of a kind of moral outrage. "Spammers will not control my life! I will not live in fear!"

Well, maybe not. But you're going to spend a lot of time deleting emails.

Maybe what we need is an SMTP replacement, only don't call it an SMTP replacement (replacing SMTP just sounds like too big a task--sort of like setting up and maintaining a spam filter--so a lot of people will reject the idea outright if that's what it's called). Come up with a new name for it and tout it as a new, spam-free (or at least more spam-safe) internet messaging system. People like new "messaging systems". Once everyone is on board and no one uses SMTP anymore (yeah, idealistic again--it will take a long time), everyone will recognize it for what it is...or not. They'll just say, "wow, this messaging system is great--it let me replace that spamming old email thing!"

Well, another day, another blog entry. One that contains no practical advice about how to protect yourself from spam. Maybe it's a result of moral outrage. Why should I have to write about protecting oneself from spam?