Microsoft Preaches Authentication

New York, NY – Microsoft continued its charge against the spam industry Monday by announcing details of an anti-spam campaign that closely resembles a caller ID system, except for email.

According to Bill Gates, the only way to stymie the flow of spam is to make email marketers accountable for who they are and where their email content originates.

Microsoft's anti-spam initiative aims to put a stop to what is popularly known as "spoofing," which enables email marketers to disguise their identities.

Microsoft's proposal would require Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to submit lists of unique numeric addresses for their mail servers. According to MSNBC, a certain type of Microsoft-branded software would then check a database to verify that a message said to come from an email provider actually originated at one of its registered machines.

Security experts are saying that Microsoft's anti-spam system would also reduce spread of email viruses and fraud that occurs through email 'phishing' schemes.

Microsoft is so far referring to its anti-spam initiative as 'Caller ID for E-mail,' and the software maker is among numerous other companies currently developing their own approach to ending, or at least lessening, spam.

While Microsoft and Yahoo! are each developing systems aimed at authenticating senders of email, America Online is in the midst of testing a third method called 'Sender Policy Framework.'

Spam filtering company Sendmail Inc. and Amazon.com are also developing anti-spam systems.

The anti-spam initiatives currently on the table would require no changes to existing protocols for email or the Domain Name System.

According to MSNBC, security experts are working on ways to diminish the amount of legitimate email that is intercepted when sent from places like cybercafes, hotels, and public Wi-Fi hotspots.

According to MSNBC, Yahoo has taken a very different approach to the spam issue and has proposed a process called DomainKeys, which digitally encrypts email messages in such a way that email browsers can reject certain email, although Yahoo's plan has not yet been implemented.

To keep track of the wave of anti-spam initiatives underway, the Internet Engineering Task Force is scheduled to conduct an authentication session next in South Korea.

According to MSNBC, within the coming year, at least one of the anti-spam systems will be made available to the general public.

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Texas Resumes AV Lawsuit Against Aylo Following SCOTUS Decision

A district court judge in Texas has unfrozen the state’s $1.6 million lawsuit against Aylo for allegedly failing to comply with age verification requirements, Bloomberg Law is reporting.

JuicyAds Wins Trademark Infringement Case Against Fraudulent Domain

JuicyAds has won its World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) case against a website using a similar domain to impersonate the company's site and defraud customers.

Anissa Kate, Jordan Starr Top AEBN for Q2 of 2025

AEBN has published its top-selling stars for the second quarter of 2025, with Anissa Kate landing atop the leaderboard for straight theaters and Jordan Starr heading up the gay rankings.

AEBN Reveals Eva Maxim as Top Trans Star for Q2 of 2025

AEBN has published its top trans stars list for the second quarter of 2025, with Eva Maxim landing atop the leaderboard.

France Reinstates Age Verification Rule for EU Sites

France’s highest court, the Council of State, on Tuesday reinstated age verification rules for EU-based sites under the country’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law, ruling in favor of the French government and against Hammy Media.

Whisper Fans Joins Pineapple Support as Supporter-Level Sponsor

Whisper Fans has joined the ranks of over 70 adult businesses and organizations committing funds and resources to Pineapple Support.

Utherverse Launches 'Red Light Center' Virtual World

Virtual reality and metaverse technology company Utherverse has launched its new virtual world, RedLightCenter.io.

European Commission Approves AV Guidelines, Unveils Prototype App

The European Commission on Monday released its final, approved guidelines for protecting minors online under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and made public a “white label” age verification app intended to help sites and platforms comply with age verification rules under the DSA.

Show More