Where's the Post Office in all this?

Second time in the same number of weeks, major media has taken note of the idea of postage on email. [Bill Gates, like a head of state, is a human starting gun! ed.] In today's NYTimes is a story entitled,
Speech by Gates Lends Visibility to E-Mail Stamp in War on Spam. In the article is a modest look at what Microsoft and Yahoo! are doing to create friction in the email system to prevent spam. Several tech companies developing systems that levy "postage" fees on email are highlighted as well. A quotation:

Now, though, the idea of e-mail postage is getting a second look from the owners of the two largest e-mail systems in the world, Microsoft and Yahoo.
Ten days ago, Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that spam would not be a problem in two years, in part because of systems that would require people to pay money to send e-mail. Yahoo, meanwhile, is quietly evaluating an e-mail postage plan being developed by Goodmail, a Silicon Valley start-up company.

The article is worth reading, but it begs the obvious questions:

1. Why isn't the original and valid "postage" administrator noted in the article?

2. Why isn't that "natural party" finding a voice now in this nascent discussion before it's too late?

Posted by Grayson at February 2, 2004 08:49 AM