Correct, flat fees do not have the micropayment problem, nor do CPU-coins or similar. I have indeed pointed out that they are much more workable, though should not be the only option. All the money solutions smell a bit like extortion, though. They aren't extortion, but they smell like it. "Nice E-mail you've got there. Be a shame if our spam filters were to block it. But for a small fee we can assure they won't"

I realize that you _think_ that spam is not a free speech issue. We'll just have to disagree on that one. Every free speech issue has the anti side insisting that it's not a free speech issue. That's a zero-information statement. The truth is E-mail is a form of speech, so any regulation of E-mail, both personal and private, has free speech concerns, if only because no regulation is perfect.

Indeed, can you think of a more important form of speech than E-mail today? It's replaced mail, faxes and phone calls for many forms of communication.

However, I have other blog threads on this, this thread is to focus on tempfailing and whether it's the right tool in the spam war.