--On Sunday, September 07, 2003 17:07 -0400 "vinton g. cerf" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> I understand but that was not my point. My point is that you >> can put a web-based interface on top of your POP account to >> access it any where. You still have a POP account which you >> are accessing any where if that is what you want. The >> web-based interface is just another form of an email client. > > that's different - what you said was as quoted above. I agree > that if you design the web server properly, you can use a web > interface, but you run the risk that with this design, you may > never be able to pull the email later, POPStyle, into your > computer. Although it is theoretically possible, using POP > (rather than IMAP) to leave the mail on the server until you > pull it again with POP, many servers appear to clear out the > mail after POPing it. I think John Klensin made that > observation in an earlier exchange. I may not have, but, to get it on the table, many ISPs who offer "free" POP3 accounts have decided that, in order to control costs, they need to do one (or more) of three things: (i) Impose total-quantity-of-mail limits on mailboxes (ii) Charge for storage, at least above a certain, fairly small, amount. (iii) Prevent the user from using the mail store for long-term storage by deleting messages that have been downloaded, whether the user issues an explicit POP3 "delete" command or not. If the third model is adopted by a POP3 provider, then reading through the mailbox looking for spam will presumably be 100% effective in eliminating spam... because it will be 100% effective in eliminating everything. That is probably not the desired result. One of the other things you see to be handwaving a bit about is the notion of handing out user IDs, passwords, and other credentials to mail accounts to people so they can "help" with spam (or other problems). Sure, I can find a web-based something-or-other to access my POP3 mailbox (if I had one). But whether I can find one I trust as much as I trust my mail store and the existing mechanisms for reaching it is an open question. If I understand what you are proposing --you have actually been a little vague, and the web site listed in your signature line seems to mostly run people around in circles-- you require that I supply you sufficient credentials to read --and potentially delete and maybe alter-- my mail. I assume there are reasons why I should trust you that much, but, independent of anything else, your establishing those would be, I think, an interesting problem. john