SANTA CLARA, CA - September 25, 2000 - Mailshell.com (http://www.mailshell.com), the free service to stop junk email, today unveiled additional new features including the first anonymous peer-to-peer sharing system for email content. Dubbed 'Mailshell Users Picks', the service allows users to find, gather and trade the best online content via email, while allowing each party to remain private, anonymous and secure from junk email. All of Mailshell's services are free and require absolutely no download, changes or reconfiguration to the user's email setup.
Mailshell guarantees privacy and user control by creating a new, separate, spam-filtered, and anonymous email address - a 'mail shell' - for each content channel users request and only reveals what the user explicitly has given permission to reveal. Much like the old person-to-person phone call, the system uses the 'mail shell' address to match and authenticate the identity of the sender and recipient, rather than just the recipient's as with traditional email systems. This empowers a user to cancel or unsubscribe from an individual content channel at will, through a simple one-click unsubscribe on the Mailshell service. Users can opt to receive the incoming content via their existing email inbox or via their own Mailshell web-based email accounts.
"The popularity of Napster and other free content sharing services clearly proves users' hunger for free content management and control," said Tonny Yu, President and CEO of Mailshell. "Until now traditional email infrastructure, in which senders have complete control and users can't control or authenticate who sends them email, has made anonymous peer-to-peer sharing via email impossible. Now that Mailshell offers true user control and anonymity without the risk of junk mail, users can trade, share and discover thousands of content channels via email that they would have never been willing to try in the past."
Since this level of user control increases users' willingness to try new sources of content, Mailshell is a boon to Internet publishers and email marketers seeking incremental, pre-qualified subscribers. By providing samples and reviews of the content, Mailshell matches email senders and recipients efficiently, enabling a more targeted exchange of information and services. Users have the freedom to receive only the content to which they wish to subscribe, while senders have the confidence of knowing they are gaining the attention of interested, qualified audiences. Publishers enjoy higher subscription rates with lower attrition rates.
"Junk email is in the eye of the beholder," added Yu. "Our goal is to offer a comprehensive email management service that increases users' productivity and control while maintaining their privacy. High-quality publishers appreciate this service as much as our users who want to judge for themselves which emails they should or should not receive."
Mailshell users can browse Mailshell's database of unique email content channels and easily create their own Mailshell Users Picks page and publish it on the Mailshell email portal. Users can elect to publish their Picks in a public forum where other users can sample their selections, or as an unlisted list, providing access only to people they know. Creators of Mailshell Users Picks in essence become their own publishers by aggregating content in a free Mailshell Users Picks page and then promoting their list's unique URL. As with other peer-to-peer sharing services, people can also simply scan the posted lists of Users Picks to find content that interests them. If they elect to subscribe to channels within those Mailshell Users Picks, the Mailshell system protects them from the frequent deluge of junk email.
A Robust Email Service Guaranteeing Total User Control Over Junk
Mailshell's new release also allows users to compose and forward email, while remaining within the protection of their 'mail shell' proxy addresses. This allows users to initiate, manage and terminate all channels of communication both commercial and personal, thereby bringing Mailshell's content management features to all email correspondence. Users can compose email without fear of future junk email by selecting "block all replies". Mailshell now also allows users to individually block the email addresses of junk email senders while still receiving the email that they want.
The company also today announced the addition of more than 4,000 new unique content channels that users can search, sort, find and subscribe directly from the Mailshell portal. Mailshell now offers access to more than 7,500 unique channels of information. By providing users full disclosure about channels' content, Mailshell helps users prevent junk by subscribing wisely.
About Mailshell
Mailshell (http://www.mailshell.com) offers the first complete, simple, and totally free solution guaranteed to stop junk mail. The company has created a new abuse-resistant and backward-compatible email infrastructure allowing companies and individuals to more efficiently manage their incoming email. Users gain complete control over their email and their privacy without any changes in their email setup. Mailshell allows users to prevent junk, by providing reviews and samples of the best email lists so that people are properly warned before they give out their email address; stop junk, via Mailshell's advanced filtering technology allowing Mailshell users to instantly and permanently stop any email that they do not want; and protect privacy, via a series of transparent and anonymous email addresses - 'mail shells' - that only reveal what the user explicitly has given permission to reveal.
Mailshell is a proud member of TRUSTe, the premier privacy seal program worldwide and independent organization dedicated to building consumer trust and confidence in the Internet.
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