Hands up if you hate spam!!!

That's most of us on this planet, with presumable exception of the spammers of course. Unfortunately, it's been a never ending (and seemingly loosing) battle against those purveyors of unsolicited junk e-mail.

Enough with the barrage of offers for male enhancement medication; that part of my anatomy is just fine, more than fine, thank you. No, I don't need to see some bleached blond pop/movie star babe devoid of clothing (which she can obviously afford); I am quite familiar with all those birds and bees as they may be. And for the last time, I am not going to render financial aide to some displaced African prince who'll share untold millions with me if send him a short term loan; I prefer to fund more tangible (more realistic) investments.

But hopefully, what Microsoft is proposing, may actually help stem the tidal wave of spam that is drawing the Internet. This idea has been in their works for some years now, and it seems to be the best anti-spam measure to date. What Microsoft is proposing would be a framework that attach's the senders IP Address to any e-mail they send, spam or otherwise. By having this IP Address attached and displayed, it would allow ISP's and recipients to target those sending the spam. Perhaps effectively blocking them in the future.

Sounds like a good idea, right? Well, in my honest opinion, yes and no, but mostly no. Yes, it may help to quell the swell of spam to your In-Box somewhat, but for how long? A resourceful spammer can spoof an IP Address, effectively covering their tracks. An IP trace could lead you to the spammer in question, but that spammer may actually be your grandmother, who's computer was accidentally turned into a spamming bot during an unsuspecting visit to some on-line bingo site.

At least Microsoft is trying to help. By releasing (for free) the framework for this anti-spam measure, they are taking quite the stand against spammers. I would suspect that a great deal of junk e-mail saps the bandwidth for Hotmail users, hurting Microsoft. This Sender ID system is meant to ensure that the senders IP Address matches that IP Address they would claim to have. Consider it a digital stamp of origin authenticity. Still, e-mail and IP Addresses can be spoofed.

Further more, those who would use and develop this sender ID system won't have to pay a licencing fee to Microsoft. There is also the promise that Microsoft won't sue anyone who decides to experiment with it. But that would remain to be seen. The lynch pin in this plan though is quite the precarious one. It would involve domain owners disclosing the IP Addresses of individuals who send e-mail. This publication of the Sender Policy Framework (SPF), is ripe with privacy issues of course.

Good Idea, bad idea? Only time will tell.