Bill Gates had a suggestion in his book, The Road Ahead: that we charge people for the privilege of e-mailing us. Basically, if someone wanted to send you e-mail, they would have to pay about a dime to you before your account would accept it. Of course, the money transfers would have to be done automatically, from ISP to ISP, but technologically speaking, it could be done.
The basic idea is, a dime wouldn't stop your friends and family from sending you e-mail. But it would stop Mister Penile Enlargement from sending out ten million e-mails when he expects to get back only ten replies. That works when the e-mails are free, but when they cost $1 million and he only stands to make $100, he'll think again about darkening your virtual doorstep.
Bill Gates had a suggestion in his book, The Road Ahead: that we charge people for the privilege of e-mailing us. Basically, if someone wanted to send you e-mail, they would have to pay about a dime to you before your account would accept it. If I understand Bill Gates, what he actually wants is someone to pay MICROSOFT 10 cents for sending an email. I don't blame him, if I was smart enough, I'd do it.