Spam in your e-mail inbox got you down? A group of e-mail service providers and Internet marketers wants to create a way to differentiate bona fide bulk e-mailers from spammers.. . .
Spam in your e-mail inbox got you down? A group of e-mail service providers and Internet marketers wants to create a way to differentiate bona fide bulk e-mailers from spammers.

The idea sounds good in concept, but it would require cross-industry cooperation and faith that the registration process will actually work. And creating such a system doesn't mean that spam would go away entirely, but in theory bulk mailers would have to follow certain rules to get the proposed seal of approval that their mail isn't spam. The Email Service Provider Coalition (ESPC for short; there's a coalition and an acronym for everything these days), which represents some 30 companies, including Internet advertising-services giant DoubleClick, is an outgrowth of the Network Advertising Initiative.

The ESPC unveiled a plan for the registry and authentication system yesterday. CNET's News.com explains: "The system would require the close cooperation of Internet service providers to implement. In order to gain access to the system, large-volume e-mailers would be required to provide verified address information and to promise to abide by certain best practices.

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