I guess all of us know about the E-mail spam problem.

Skype can now be used to transfer files between users (well I have never tried - but believe).
And it seems for me that one is pretty close to have a system which could be used
the same way as E-mail is supposed to function - but free from spam ?

Skype keeps much better track of where messages/"calles" come from -
and one could more easily make a "black list" for blocking spammers ?

I start to hate regular E-mail - and have nostalgia from the time E-mail were
free from spam.

So could Skype come up with a spam-free E-mail functionality ?
Next year there can be many million skype users and E-mail inside
the "skype peer2peer network" would have a meaning - one could
even think about a solution for filtering mails from the regular
Internet E-mail system since the "skype network" consitute a large
resource.

Hoi !

to me, skype already has this funcionality as i leave my pc connected all day long and if I come back I can see IMs and missed calls directly.

try using a morgle from www.morgle.com

In addition to many other things, you can a only be sent emails from a web url not an email programme.

So by putting your Morgle Linkaddress on yr web page as a contact, you should, over time, reduce automatic spamming

I really don't see, why SKYPE should be a ANTI SPAM mail - it's primary function is VoIP ?
May I sugest another greate Danish program ( also for free ) www.spamfighter.com ? It works great but letting the members add to a global database of spam mails, thus protecting each other.
- the more users, the more protection.

The best way to prevent spam is for all windows users to keep there computers malware free. The amount of spam being sent is only possible due to the number of computers with spam forwarding trojans installed (just about every windows computer that doesn't have some form of AV program installed).
Richard

My computer is malware free and i get a LOT of spam.
The spamers get those email not just from user itself and his post. For example, spyware can easily fetch your email from your friend after infesting his/her computer. Another example for fetching emails via "third party victim" is sending a cute postcard, flash, etc to you from a friend by entering your email on the web. You know, there are a LOT of ways to get ones email. You can't stay sterile from spam. If you don't give your email to anyone, then you probably dont really need/use it. If you do, eventualy you will get spam.

Really (!) try out SPAMFIGHTER - it works and remove 95% of my SPAM mail. See I had tha same email adress for 9 years now, so I'm in every SPAM list there is in the world. Recieve about 150-175 in a weekend alone and SPAMFIGHTER takes out the bulk of them withour bothering me.
But that's besides the point. don't mix up things!
Let SKYPE be the best VoIP there is and what it's good fore and let the SKYPE team focus on making that perfect - not 30 other things. Use the programming time for ONLY that and solve your other PC user problems with already existing prooven software.

100% agree.

About spam filters - the main problem with those are MISSDETECTS. Spam filters often missdetect and erase/move emails such as friends "happy birthday" emails with links inside, flight confirmations, tech support replies that also happen to have and ad inside, etc

NOT SPAM Fighter - it filters throw a global database. EG: 2 users "somewhere” in the world report the same spam mail and it get's reg. throw it's unique signature ( not words or sentences - but throw check sum ). ( later correction: 5 users , at least 2 country independent - to prevent mistakes of blocking legal newsletters ) So if 2 of the 10.000.000 spamfighters worldwids reports the same spam mail ( it’s checksum ) it blokes it for every body else. Smart, because it thereby it doesn't filter away legal newsletters etc you actually wanted and signed up for or “friendly emails” , that just contained a "wrong" word etc. ... it even works with Viruses *grin* !
I know the guy personally who programmed this - he is one of the old JUBII portal inventors ( first major portal in the world now 14 years old ). And the thought of reg. the checksum/algorithm on a SPAM, rather than words or phrases is genius. This way only 2 spamfighters in the community get “infected” – then protects the rest throw a simple block botton in Outlook. Hense the name SPAMFIGHTER

But again, that’s besides the point and doesn't belong in this forum about SKYPE. SKYPE is VoIP – and that what they are good at and should concentrate on.

You misunderstood my post. I didn't mean having spyware meant you got spam, I was trying to say that all of the computers with the relevant spyware installed act as spam relays, increasing the amount of spam that other people get.
Richard

------

No problem with this conclusion, but skype is for exchaning voice - and it is
not far between exchanging voice and exchanging text ?
Just wonder a bit ? Or could one risk to get "spam phone calls" from skype (when
it is more in common use) ?

When the skype community reaches a certain population, certain tele-marketeers will invariable begin to use the media...

Well, to some female users this already happens (as seen on other threads or some female user's remarks).

This is something skype should become aware of and make up their minds. Of course you can vlock all unknown callers to require approval, though if you want to use this as a company being reachable for customers or even (future) customers, this might become a problem.

So, we should all hope for skypein where users become anonymous and it will be hard for stalkers and marketing companies to select targets.

It would be slightly easier to deal with them on skype by suddenly experiencing "connection problems"...
-
Richard

[quote=\"fesche\"][quote]When the skype community reaches a certain population, certain tele-marketeers will invariable begin to use the media[/quote]

Well, to some female users this already happens (as seen on other threads or some female user's remarks).

This is something skype should become aware of and make up their minds. Of course you can vlock all unknown callers to require approval, though if you want to use this as a company being reachable for customers or even (future) customers, this might become a problem.

So, we should all hope for skypein where users become anonymous and it will be hard for stalkers and marketing companies to select targets.

----

I think we here are into an important question for the Skype users.

You description above may be a good argument to be able to group skype accounts
and to be able to have a "family/business/organization skype account" where several
users of the same account can talk between each other. Then it is easier to block
groups of users. For example I would like to open up for users within Statoil,
Norsk Hydro, Exxon, etc etc. And I would like to open up for family A, B, C.
Maybe I also would like to open up for all paying users (users who have managed
to pay to Skype - this is a good intelligence test :-)

In practize I would like to open up for at least (let say) 10.000 people - but this is impossible
if I have to maintain personally each individual account/user.

There are also other arguments to "group" skype accounts (in hirarkies):
I would like to have only one family account with only one password and to pay only
to one account - and so we all within the user group can talk between each other.
The alternative is to maintain 10 accounts for each person and location !!! I also would
like to let my mother in law (living abroad) to use my account. It is cheaper to call
via SkypeOut to Norway as compared to the other direction, by the way.

The spam/marketing question/problem must on an early stage be buildt into the design
of the skype system. It should not be a question to solve after the design is made !

Ampersand,

the problem is how to supress unwanted calls though recieve wanted ones !?

disconnecting is never a problem.

I don't see the sharing of Skype accounts as a practical solution as you need to have a unique identifier to make it possible for someone to reach you (and tell who's calling for that matter). Though your idea of several Skype accounts sharing a pool of credits as well as being a recognized unit of users has its merits, a Skype user will have his or her own account, but belong to one or more groups, these groups could then be managed in much of the same way as individual accounts, meaning that you could add a group to your contacts meaning that any of the group members would be authorized to call you and vice versa. It would be a neat feature :wink:

If it's made easy for spammers to be reported and have the accounts blocked, it might be possible to make it too inconvenient for businesses to use this, but I supose they'll always find some way round it.

On the subject of e-mail:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3694974.stm
Richard