Tech Weapons of Spam Destruction
Big Internet providers, their servers clogged with junk e-mail, are trying to use technology to fight the spam onslaught.
MessageLabs, an e-mail security firm, estimates that two-thirds of all spam is routed through insecure computers that allow senders to mask the true source of e-mail messages. Since identifying spammers is key to stopping them, America Online and Yahoo are working on e-mail equivalents to caller ID: Each message would include information on the actual sender. This would help authorities track down offenders and allow ISPs to block e-mail that incorrectly states its source.
America Online is testing technology called Sender Permitted From that works at the recipient's end, checking whether the point-of-origin IP address--embedded in all e-mail messages--corresponds to the domain name of the purported sender. If the two don't match, the recipient could discard the message.
Yahoo's DomainKeys plan would place an unforgeable encrypted signature on outbound Yahoo e-mail. When the message reached its destination, the recipient's mail server would check the signature with a Yahoo public key and then deliver only messages verified as coming from Yahoo.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is researching ways to curb junk e-mail by making it cost-prohibitive. A scheme called Penny Black would block mail until the sender's computer solved a complex math equation that would tie up the PC for about 10 seconds--a delay that would not inconvenience most people, but that would force bulk e-mailers to use supercomputers as servers.
Goodmail Systems is one of several companies developing technology that would impose a small charge for each unsolicited e-mail message, thereby motivating marketers to trim their mailing lists. Right now, there's no financial disincentive to send out as many e-mail pitches as possible.
Goodmail's e-mail postage stamps would be free to individuals and discounted to nonprofits. Richard Gingras, Goodmail's president and CEO, says that ISPs could use fees from volume senders to fight spam.
Don't ditch your spam filter just yet, however. All of these technologies are still just being researched or tested.
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