Monday, May 24, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
By Al Gibes

ONLINE GUY: Race is on to build a better spam trap

More and more Internet users are taking action to keep their in-boxes free of unwanted e-mail. But putting up an automatic gatekeeping system is not foolproof. Some messages you want to see invariably get zapped -- whether by human or technological error -- while others that you want to block somehow sneak in. No system is perfect, but that isn't keeping people from trying to build a better spam trap.

Putting the user in control of the "white list" -- those given the OK to send you e-mail -- is what one spam-filtering company I recently tested does. Mail-Block (www.mail-block.com), a Florida-based company with an office in Las Vegas, believes they have a unique solution in the battle against spam.

Many spam-blocking solutions rely on the "challenge and response" method of verifying an e-mail sender as legitimate. A person sending a message to someone using this type of service will get a reply directing the user to a Web page that contains a word camouflaged within a graphic. The user then types the word into a form on the page, which verifies that a living human -- and not a machine -- sent the message. The sender's e-mail address is then added to the white list and future messages get through automatically.

Mail-Block uses a technology called "Verified Embedded Random Generated Link" (VERGL). Instead of the challenge of re-typing a word, the user simply clicks on a link and that authorizes the sender as legitimate and adds their e-mail address to the recipient's white list.

"VERGL is the least intrusive of any system. One click and you're done," said Robert Daley, Mail-Block senior developer. The system is also compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, meaning blind computer users can authorize themselves with a single click, which is not possible in the challenge-and-response models.

In addition, users can upload their entire address book to the white list, which automatically verifies that batch of addresses as permitted senders.

"Current people that send mail to them never realize you are now using an anti-spam technology," said Bob Craddock, CEO of Mail-Block Corporation (www.Mail-Block.com), the parent company of Mail-Block.

Messages waiting for authorization are held on the Mail-Block servers. A customer can see the list either through a Web browser interface or choose to have the list sent daily via e-mail. A single click lets a message through.

Like most other spam solutions, Mail-Block offers a free 30-day trial, after which a customer pays $29.95 per year. Each account lets you manage a main e-mail address and up to four sub accounts, such as those for children using e-mail. The Pop-Fetch feature also lets you screen up to three other e-mail accounts through a single log-in.

An enterprise version of the software is available to businesses that want to run the technology in-house.

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