The spam issue could be solved fairly easily by replacing SMTP with a more robust, more "secure" protocol for mail services. SMTP basically accepts whatever crap gets sent to it, and does little or nothing to verify that the mail is good.
You will not solve the spam problem by attempting to filter, tax, or otherwise prod spammers into not mailing, it won't work. You cannot impose an international tax on spam... not going to happen.
Stop spam from being sent or processed... make email 99.9% traceable, don't create a system that allows headers to be fucked with, and you have yourself a solution. Challenge systems just mean more junk bouncing around in circles, and it is a system that can easily be circumvented by a mail center in a third world country filled with people typing the challenge words back in.
Anyone out the good enough to re-write SMTP protocol? I have a plan :-)
Alex
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