In a step forward for the e-mail
marketing industry's efforts at self-regulation, San Francisco-based
anti-spam firm Mailshell has become the first e-mail filter to adopt
the Postiva Trusted Sender technology
The technology, developed by consultancy ePrivacy Group and
industry-supported Web authentication program TRUSTe, allows
commercial e-mail marketers to license special code added to their
mailings that signifies that the mailer uses valid subject lines,
honors requests to unsubscribe, and follows "fair information
practice."
The two groups also expect ISPs, e-mail client developers and
spam filters like Mailshell to license the code, which theoretically
would help them to distinguish bulk e-mail sent from compliant
mailers and prioritize it ahead of mail from unconfirmed senders.
In Mailshell's case, users of its SpamCatcher anti-spam software
or e-mail escrow service will be able to click on the Postiva icon
embedded in e-mail sent by licensed marketers to verify its
compliance -- similar to the TRUSTe "trustmark" seal of approval for
e-commerce and marketing Web sites.
It's the first time that Mailshell has used a third-party to
authenticate senders' legitimacy. Mailshell has worked with TRUSTe
before, however -- providing tools to help the group verify that
seal licensees were adhering to posted privacy policies.
TRUSTe and ePrivacy Group unveiled the Postiva program in
January, announcing at the same time that mailers including
DoubleClick , Microsoft (Quote,
Company
Info), Bigfoot Interactive, RappCollins Innovyx and Virtumundo
had agreed to send out campaigns testing the technology.
The news comes just days after a new anti-spam startup, Habeas,
debuted with a similar way of authenticating e-mail. Unlike the
Postiva solution, which uses ePrivacy Group's technology to
authenticate senders, Habeas plans to use trademark and copyright
law to dissuade spammers from misappropriating its verification
code.
Also unlike TRUSTe, which is funded by corporate sponsors, Habeas
is a for-profit venture and allows only double-opt-in mailers to
license its code.
But the parties behind Postiva take a different stance, pointing
to technology and industry self-regulation as the answer to the spam
problem.
"Rather than focus on penalties to discourage spam, Postiva
Trusted Sender raises the bar for wanted and trusted e-mail,
securely conveying trust in a cryptographically armored seal that is
backed by TRUSTe, the leading non-profit trust authority on the
Web," said ePrivacy Group Chief Executive Vince Schiavone.
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