[tor-bugs] #4666 [Company]: Write proposal for proof-of-work service

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#4666: Write proposal for proof-of-work service
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 Reporter:  mikeperry  |          Owner:  mikeperry
     Type:  task       |         Status:  new      
 Priority:  normal     |      Milestone:           
Component:  Company    |        Version:           
 Keywords:             |         Parent:           
   Points:             |   Actualpoints:           
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Comment(by mikeperry):

 Replying to [comment:5 rransom]:
 > See [http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rnc1/proofwork.pdf].

 It appears the "failure" of proof-of-work in this paper hinges critically
 on the one-to-many ability of legitimate email to be sent to multiple
 recipients and via mailing lists, which would cause bottlenecks for a
 considerable percentage of legitimate users. Web services do not have this
 property in general.

 Furthermore, email proof-of-work is competing against rather highly
 effective spam filters. Web services don't really have such highly-
 effective general-purpose technology. Our proof of work service would only
 be competing against Captchas and IP bans.

 Also of interest is that as spam has become less profitable in recent
 years, spam volumes have actually dropped considerably. Increasing the
 cost of sending mail did in fact lower spam volume. It is just that
 improved filtering, user education, and botnet takedowns is what caused
 this particular increase in cost, not proof of work.

 I am not convinced :).

-- 
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