How Challenge and Response Spam and Junk eMail Services Work

A useful service you may have experienced is the challenge response method of dealing with spam and junk email.

Someone you want to send an email to has this service installed and in use. Before your email is released to them, it must approve of your email address.

Once your email is received by the system it automatically sends you an email asking you to verify your request. Usually this takes the form of a request to enter a randomly generated word onto a box and submitting.

Since spammers in the main send email automatically the challenge email will bounce (if the senders email is false), or at best not get replied to.

If the challenge succeeds in a successful response then your email is delivered as is any future email.

Such systems usually operate on the services server using a special POP3 account so users need to login to read any mail which has not been cleared by the response - which is deleted automatically after a user set period of time (typically 30 days) to allow senders who are ill or on vacation or business trips to return to their email system, and see the challenge email.

The users involvement in the process is reduced since the bulk of the work is done off site on the services server. And, the senders have to verify their email, overall reducing the users workload to a minimum.

Costs vary based on monthly fees or a reduction for paying annually but are typically < $50 USD a year

Services are less than ideal for web site owners who regularly get lots of new business with a low repeat, since this can result in a huge database of approved senders few of whom will ever send mail to the user again.

Most services offers a trial period, typically 30 days during which you can test the system, but there is a risk in loosing emails from valued contacts during that period unless you back up important emails during the trial period, especially if you decide to leave later. Watch for services which tend to "lock you in" for the long haul and be costly with limited results.

Maurice Clarke is founding owner of http://www.internet-online-privacy.com a free and independent source of information about all aspects of online fraud and personal privacy issues. The site contains articles and web links highlighting the leading privacy issues and suggested preventions and solutions for both personal and business web surfers.

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