FC: Earthlink will begin to offer email challenge technology

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

[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.
...




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