Email Opt-out Enforcement

• US 20070180031A1
• Filed: 01/30/2006
• Published: 08/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation), Wyeth (Pfizer Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gillum, Eliot C., Stern, Pablo M., Walter, Jason D., Tafoya, John E.
• Application Number:
  US11/275,824
• Publication Number:
  US 20070180031A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Email opt-out enforcement is described. Received email messages are processed based on trust levels associated with senders of the email messages, such that email from more trusted senders is not scrutinized as much as email from less trusted senders. When a user requests to opt-out or unsubscribe from a sender'"'"'s mailings, a record of the user'"'"'s opt-out request is maintained. If the sender continues to send email to the user subsequent to the opt-out request, the trust level associated with the sender is adjusted to reflect a lesser degree of trust in the sender.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a first email message from a sender, the first email message being addressed to a user;

receiving an indication of a user-submitted opt-out request associated with the first email message; and

maintaining a record of the opt-out request, such that a response by the sender to the opt-out request can be monitored.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining a trust level associated with the sender; and

in an event that the trust level is above a threshold value, delivering the first email message as a trusted email message.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining a trust level associated with the sender;

in an event that the trust level is below a threshold value, applying a spam filter to the first email message; and

in an event that the first email message passes the spam filter, delivering the first email message to the user'"'"'s inbox.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining a trust level associated with the sender;

in an event that the trust level is below a threshold value, processing the first email message as an untrusted email message.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein processing the first email message as an untrusted email message comprises refusing to deliver the first email message.

6. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein processing the first email message as an untrusted email message comprises:

applying a spam filter to the first email message; and

in an event that the first email message fails to pass the spam filter, delivering the first email message to the user'"'"'s junk mailbox.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second email message from the sender, the second email message being addressed to the user; and

determining that the second email message defies the opt-out request; and

reducing a trust level associated with the sender to reflect that the sender is less trusted.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the determining comprises:

delivering the second email message to the user; and

receiving an indication of a user-submitted opt-out request associated with the second email message.

9. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the determining comprises:

delivering the second email message to the user; and

receiving an indication of a user-submitted spam report associated with the second email message.

10. An email service comprising:

a user mail data store configured to maintain data associated with a user email account;

an unwanted email enforcement module configured to monitor an email sender'"'"'s response to a user-submitted opt-out request.

11. The email service as recited in claim 10, wherein the unwanted email enforcement module comprises:

a sender reputation data store configured to maintain a trust level associated with the email sender; and

an opt-out monitor configured to record user-submitted opt-out requests.

12. The email service as recited in claim 11, wherein the opt-out monitor is further configured to adjust the trust level associated with the email sender to indicate less trust in the sender in an event that the sender continues to send email that defies a user-submitted opt-out request.

13. The email service as recited in claim 11, wherein the opt-out monitor is further configured to adjust the trust level associated with the email sender to indicate more trust in the sender in an event that the sender does not send email that defies a user-submitted opt-out request for a particular period of time.

14. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-readable instructions which, when executed, cause a computer system to:

receive an indication of a first unwanted email notification submitted by a user, the first unwanted email notification associated with a first email message having an associated sender;

maintain an indication of the unwanted email notification to facilitate enforcement of the unwanted email notification.

15. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the unwanted email notification comprises at least one of a spam report or an opt-out request.

16. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, further comprising computer-readable instructions which, when executed, cause the computer system to:

receive a second email message addressed to the user from the sender;

determine a trust level associated with the sender; and

in an event that the trust level is above a threshold value, deliver the second email message to the user without further processing.

17. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, further comprising computer-readable instructions which, when executed, cause the computer system to:

receive a second email message addressed to the user from the sender;

determine a trust level associated with the sender; and

in an event that the trust level is below a threshold value, process the second email message as an untrusted email message.

18. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 17, farther comprising computer-readable instructions which, when executed, cause the computer system to process the second email message as an untrusted email message by:

applying a spam filter to the second email message; and

in an event that the second email message passes the spam filter, delivering the second email message to the user.

19. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 17, further comprising computer-readable instructions which, when executed, cause the computer system to process the second email message as an untrusted email message by preventing the second email message from being delivered.

20. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, further comprising computer-readable instructions which, when executed, cause the computer system to:

receive an indication of a second unwanted email notification submitted by the user, the second unwanted email notification associated with a second email message having the associated sender; and

reducing a trust level associated with the sender to indicate the sender'"'"'s failure to respect the first unwanted email notification.