Proposal: Automatic verification of email address ownership
Automated disclaimer: This post was written more than 15 years ago and I may not have looked at it since.
Older posts may not align with who I am today and how I would think or write, and may have been written in reaction to a cultural context that no longer applies. Some of my high school or college posts are just embarrassing. However, I have left them public because I believe in keeping old web pages alive—and it's interesting to see how I've changed.
Many sites require email verification, usually bot prevention should be implemented through more appropriate methods, such as accessible CAPTCHAs, sandboxing, web of trust, or pattern analysis.
Theory
Note that I am ignoring other uses of email verification, usually bot prevention. However, I believe that bot prevention. However, I believe that bot prevention should be automated. I've written a proposal of how to implement this.
Compatibility
Every step of the process is backwards compatible with existing registration and verification techniques. The protocol is completely optional.
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