The Tragedy of the Commons

Many years ago I wrote the UBC philosophy department asking them for
suggested reading on a philosophical problem, which they kindly
explained to me was called "the tragedy of the commons". 

The general class of problem was first studied when villagers had a
common grassy area for grazing.  If too many farmers used it, the
grass died and it became useless for everyone.  

Each farmer was in a dilemma, overuse the commons, and kill it for
everyone, or underuse it and not get your fair share.

We are approaching a critical mass in the newsgroups with spam as more
and more new users come on board. We are going to have to find a
solution soon or lose this valuable resource.

Personally I think the long term solution is companies that issue
digital certificates, and revoke them from anyone caught sending spam.
You digitally sign your posts they way you digitally sign your
programs. Companies that fail to police their licensees effectively
lose their right to issue since their entire customer base can be
blacklisted.

see http://mindprod.com/jgloss/spam.html
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/digitalsignatures.html
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/certificate.html
http://mindprod.com/project/mailreadernewsreader.html
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/pgp.html

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Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
The Java Glossary
http://mindprod.com