Thursday, January 08, 2004

8/11/2006; 2:33:24 AM


RSS ... the alternative to e-mail ...
I really like the essay that Adam has written about using RSS as an alternative to the existing protocols used by traditional e-mail. In the "essay" link below, Adam outlines many of the advantages and ways that this could become a much more effective medium for communication when compared to e-mail.



The one area that I have to disagree a little - or at least have my own ideas - is when it comes to managing the "publish-subscribe" relationship creation. He indicates a variety of ways to encrypt the content, however after doing a lot of work in the past on digital identity, I have to think that there are some ways that I like the "username/password" schemes much better.



In my own thoughts, I believe there is a space for the creation of a new "personal introduction" protocol for the creation of digital relationships. This protocol - and I'm only beginning to think through how this would work - would automate the management of identity information, and the exchange of the necessary information to create the relationship.



I have to agree with Adam, that once such a relationship has been created between two people (or entities) then the ability to terminate the relationship becomes much easier. The entire process becomes a "pull" of information that I am interested in ... instead of being spammed with information that I do not want!

email dying - rss alternatives. Steve Outing [via sn]: "Any e-mail publisher with a survival instinct should be publishing RSS feeds of the content that it currently e-mails." Nomention of my essay, so here's the link again. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]


Wednesday, January 07, 2004

8/11/2006; 2:33:18 AM


Steve Mann is still leading in new directions ...
As always, I am impressed with Steve Mann and his thoughts on "cyborgs" and the extension of humans using technology. He has already run into numerous societal issues, and always explores the extreme edges of wearable computers, and "mediated" reality.

Cyborgs unite!. Professor Steve Mann just may be the world's first cyborg rights activist. It is a future, he says, that is no longer the exclusive preserve of science fiction. [CNET News.com]


8/11/2006; 2:33:20 AM


TMDA ... an anti-spam solution ...
Several years ago, while at Novell, I began work on a simple idea that I called AgreeMail. It never went anywhere, however it was an anti-spam solution based on an idea that I got at a Foresight Institute conference.

The idea was pretty simple. For any e-mail that was sent to me, the AgreeMail engine would check to see if it came from an "approved" sender. If it wasn't, then it would automatically kick back an e-mail to the sender with an "agreement" that had to be replied to. When the AgreeMail engine received the "agreement" it would add the person to the approved list and let their e-mail through.

Well ... years later ... here is the solution as an Open Source project! I am now updating my mail server, and will soon be installing the TMDA engine.

This article is a great overview of TMDA, and the benefits!

TMDA Ends Spam. Tagged Message Delivery Agent (TMDA) is a challenge/response style anti-spam system which I've been using successfully for about six months. The system is based on a white list. When someone not on the list sends me a message, their message is held in a queue, and a challenge is emailed back to them. When they respond to the message, they're added to my white list, and their original message is delivered to me. I've seen some resistance to systems like TMDA. This resistance comes in two basic objections: (1) it doesn't work, and (2) it's too rude. These objections are based on encounters with systems with various obvious faults, but condemning all challenge/response systems based on some bad implementations is like saying that cars are a bad idea because the Model A Ford has some problems. I intend to show that TMDA works well and that the real debate is over whether a system like it makes victims out of the people who aren't using it. [kuro5hin.org]