THE war against spam took a curious turn on 5 May with an announcement by Microsoft that it is to create 鈥渨hitelists鈥� of what it calls 鈥渓egitimate marketers鈥�, who will be allowed to send unsolicited emails that bypass the company鈥檚 spam filters. The move makes it likely that spam will probably never be entirely eliminated.
The scheme asks marketers to agree to a set of rules regarding privacy and to purchase a bond worth between $400 and $10,000. In return, Microsoft will ensure that the marketers鈥� messages bypass Hotmail and MSN鈥檚 stringent spam filters. Marketers who flout the rules will lose their bond and their place on the list.
Microsoft is introducing the scheme, developed by Ironport Systems of San Bruno, California, in response to a growing number of complaints that over-aggressive content filters mistake too many legitimate emails for spam.
Advertisement