Junkmail Stamps

We all hate junkmail, spam, telemarketing etc. However, each individual communication is not in itself hugely damaging.

I propose a system whereby the marketing company prepurchases a fixed number of communication permissions and pays a fee for this dis-service.

Your contact details are managed by the service provider. When you get paid, you give out a dedicated address, email address, or phone number that expires after [number] communications. Thereafter, no further correspondence will be forwarded.

The service provider takes a nominal cut of the fee to cover costs and a little besides. It legally undertakes not to provide your info unless legally obliged to do so (a court order).

The idea would have a number of benefits:

You could donate the money to a charity, or use it to increase your bandwidth, or whatever.

Having paid for a limited resource, junk mailers would jealously guard your details and wouldn't sell the address to all and sundry for almost nothing.

Commercial communications would get through to the indended recipients (no more mail posted to "Mr Michael Mouse, of Disney Corp, The Sea of Tranquility, the Moon.")

The cost of spamming would go up, but only marginally, and marketers would carefully target their advertising, so my mother would get fewer offers to "increase the size of her p*nis" and more offers for designer teddy bears, which she collects.