To become richer than Bill Gates, eliminate Internet spam by simply writing an e-mail client program which:

• Deletes itself if it is changed or modified by hacking.
• Allows a user to establish an individual Internet account, link to it, put funds into it from a financial institution, and take funds out.
• Allows transfer of funds from each such account to your own central account.
• Downloads and encrypts e-mail messages from the user's server in conjunction with the user's (addressee's) e-mail program, and automatically sends a message to the sender which requests the sender's client to deposit a sum of money by a certain date, both specified by the user, into the user's account.
• Inhibits encryption and sequestration if the message content permits the deposit, in which case it makes the financial transfer from the sender's to the receiver's account, decrypts the message, transfers the plain text message to the user's e-mail IN box, and deposits one cent into your central account.
• Automatically deletes the encrypted message from the user's storage media in cases in which the sender has not authorized the payment of the fee required by the addressee within the time specified.
• Allows the user to specify the amount of the deposit for all received messages, with different amounts, including none, for messages from certain senders or domains or other characteristics specified by the user.
• Allows the user to specify maximum amounts to be deposited for messages to specific addressees or by domain, message size, or other characteristics specified by him.
• Notifies the user when the amount required by an addressee of his sent message exceeds the maximum amount he has specified, and allows him to elect to pay it to allow the message to be sent and subsequently received.
• Notifies the user if his account goes to zero and inhibits the decryption and release of messages sent by him to addressees requiring payment until he replenishes it.

Update it and add features as necessary.

Such a program would allow e-mail users to charge others to send them e-mail, and pay you a penny everytime someone used it. There would be a basic rate for anonymous senders, and specified rates for specified senders. A user could, for example, require that anyone he didn't know who sent him e-mail would have to pay him 39 cents. Otherwise, he would never get the message; your program would simply delete it. The user could also allow his friends and relatives to send him e-mail for nothing, and simultaneously require anyone from Poland, Spain, Peru, China, Korea, Brazil and Micronesia (known sources of spam) to pay him ten dollars (or some other amount) per message. This would provide a powerful incentive for these governments to eliminate the spammers. In addition:

• Anyone, anywhere, who sends an e-mail to anyone using your program will have to pay you a penny for each message.
• Anyone who uses your program will receive money from anyone who sends him e-mail. Spammers won't be able to afford it.
• Anyone who doesn't use your program will continue to get spam.

Don't forget to register your program with the copyright office!

John Lindorfer