Semipostal stamp for email
Should asking for attention have a small fee in the information society?
A semipostal stamp for email (and VoIP) could be used to raise funds for the Special Laptop Program or, more generally, something like http://www.goodgifts.org/.
Concept
An extension to the SMTP protocol or an amendatory protocol could allow a recipient to demand postage for emails, depending on the sender. A first-time sender could generally be required to pay postage (similar schemes have been considered to address SPAM). A known sender could be required to pay postage depending on a category (e.g. first-time introduction, personal, business, customer, support). Senders would have to be able to inquire about the postage required to send an email either through a web interface in the reply to an undelivered email or through an amendatory protocol. The sender could choose the charitable purpose or leave it to the recipient to do that.
The beneficial effects, besides fundraising, could be that
- email might be used somewhat more restrictive in some scenarios (email contributes significantly to noise in the information society and motivating more restrictive use could be beneficial)
- sender or recipient would be motivated to consider charitable purposes for small donations that were theirs to spend but no longer theirs. (Similar to customer bonus programs that allow to spend points on personal gifts or for charitable purposes)
