Email is fantastic, of that I have no doubt. Alas, though, its users are not always fantastic.
It is said that the best things in life are free, but email, which often is free; well, setting up an account generally is: is showing some humans for what they really are: dumb animals, because they are ruining something which should be of great benefit to humanity. And yes, I’m about to go on about one of my pet hates, spam, which, more often than not seems to originate from addresses which are linked to free email providers: read hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail et al. It really is, alas, far too easy to set up a freemail account, and, again, alas, this means that these accounts are abused to hell and back, and then some.
This aspect of the Internet should be known as the ‘World Wild Web‘, for that is what it has become.
What’s to be done about this spamful situation? Now, that is a very good question, but something does need to be done and everybody needs to be involved. Web junk mail is just getting out of hand. So, how about registered email addresses? These addresses could only be had only after subjecting applicants to a detailed proof of identity process, something which spammers just would not have the time or the will to go through.
Stop reading, start speaking
Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
Or perhaps we could all be issued with 3 or 4 personalised digital signatures which can be related to our tax numbers or birth certificate numbers. Or maybe the number of email addresses that any one person or company can hold could be tied to a database of passport or tax numbers. You would be able to extend the number of addresses, but only by following a validation process, which should in itself put off abusers.
The number of emails that can be sent from any one address needs to be strictly limited, unless the sender has a legitimately registered address which is linked to a real organisation.
As an example of just how ‘unregistered’ email addresses are, I know that two of my main email addresses are already ‘in the wild’ and I’ve been getting tons of reverse fee fraud mails recently. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone, and I’m doubly sure that everyone is getting pretty annoyed about this ridiculous situation, so people must be open to ways of ‘securing’ email addresses.
It really is too easy to set up an email account, and it is frighteningly easy to set up an email address that looks as though it has come from someone else. This, again, is just plain daft.
Something needs to be done, and it needs to be done soon.
