Politech mailing list archives
FC: Earthlink will begin to offer email challenge technology
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 01:25:12 -0400
[I've already sent an alert to the hundreds of Politech subscribers from Earthlink warning them to make sure this list is whitelisted. This as a reminder. :) --Declan]
--- From: J Armitage <j.armitage () unn ac uk> To: "'declan () well com'" <declan () well com> Subject: EarthLink to Offer Anti-Spam E-Mail System Date: Thu, 8 May 2003 08:09:30 +0100 X-UIDL: c374a63ce369429fff6ef0ca054b034d Hi Declan Did you see this piece from yesterday's Washington Post? Best wishes John ================ washingtonpost.com EarthLink to Offer Anti-Spam E-Mail System 'Challenge-Response' Technology Rejects Messages Unless Senders Are Cleared by Recipients By Jonathan Krim Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, May 7, 2003; Page E01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22390-2003May6.html A system that backers claim will eliminate e-mail spam is about to be deployed by a major Internet service provider, giving a boost to an emerging technology that if widely adopted would change how people communicate online. Atlanta-based EarthLink Inc., the country's third-largest provider of for-pay e-mail accounts, will roll out test versions of the system for its 5 million subscribers this month. Known as "challenge-response" technology, the system thwarts the ability of spammers to reach their intended audience with millions of automatically generated e-mails. When someone sends an e-mail to a challenge-response user, he or she gets an e-mail back asking to verify that the sender is a live person. Once the sender does that by replicating a word or picture displayed on the screen, the original e-mail is allowed through. The system automatically recognizes future e-mails from the same sender, so the verification needs only to be performed once. Without the verification, the e-mail is not delivered. Some experts see problems with the technology and doubt that consumers will warm to a process that adds another step to e-mail delivery. The technology is available from a handful of small vendors for a fee, but the customer base is small. ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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- FC: Earthlink will begin to offer email challenge technology Declan McCullagh (May 09)