Wave of the Future (Spam)

WE are the ones who pay for SPAM, and WE are not the ones who want it that way. Perhaps rewriting the email protocols can fix that, but the place it has to be worked out is in the IP/ICMP pair, among others, and in the TCP/UDP pair. Tracking the actual bandwidth used by a SPAMmed message probably will involve tunnelling protocols, which are normally avoided in order to preserve the layered architecture. My own experience with SPAM has shown me that even the application layer doesn't generally become aware of the actual source of the mass-mailing. Nevertheless, the challenge is to find that source and pass the cost back to him. It's not a priority today, because we're not charged by the bit. People are charged for bandwidth usage in some countries, however, so it's just a matter of time.