System and method for counteracting message filtering

• US 6,915,334 B1
• Filed: 04/16/2003
• Issued: 07/05/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hall, Robert J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Harvey, Jack B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hai V.
• Application Number:
  US10/418,243
• Time in Patent Office: 811 Days
• Field of Search: 709/207, 709/206, 709/219, 709/245, 709/203, 709/225, 707/10, 715/530, 370/352, 370/429, 370/465, 713/188, 455/412.1
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

A system and method for circumventing schemes that use duplication detection to detect and block unsolicited e-mail (spam.) An address on a list is assigned to one of m sublists, where m is an integer that is greater than one. A set of m different messages are created. A different message from the set of m different messages is sent to the addresses on each sublist. In this way, spam countermeasures based upon duplicate detection schemes are foiled.

Claims

1. A method for sending a message to a list of electronic mail addresses, the method comprising sending different versions of said message to respective ones of said addresses determined to be similar to one another based on at least one predetermined similarity criterion.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each of said addresses is of the form X@Y, wherein X and Y comprise respective character strings.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said similarity criterion is that X is the same in first and second of said addresses.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein said similarity criterion is that Y is the same in first and second of said addresses.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said similarity criterion is that first and second of said addresses are likely to point to a same electronic mailbox.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said similarity criterion is that first and second addresses have a string of characters in common that meets a predetermined metric.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said metric is that said string of characters comprises at least a predetermined percentage of the characters of at least said first address.

20. The method of any one of claims 1-19 wherein two versions of said message are different from one another if they have at least one of a) different source addresses, b) different subject lines, c) different message bodies.

24. Apparatus for performing the method of any of claims 1-19 or 21-23.

25. A medium on which are stored instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the method of any of claims 1-19 or 21-23 to be carried out.

8. A method for sending a message to a list of electronic mail addresses, the method comprising sending different versions of the message to addresses of respective different sublists of said list, the addresses of said list having been assigned to said sublists randomly.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein each of said addresses is of the form X@Y, wherein X and Y comprise respective character strings.

10. A method for sending a message to a list of electronic mail addresses, the method comprising

assigning individual ones of said addresses to respective different versions of the message, and

sending each of said message versions to at least individual ones of the addresses assigned thereto,

said assigning being such that individual ones of said addresses deemed to be similar are assigned to different ones of said message versions.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein each of said addresses is of the form X@Y, wherein X and Y comprise respective character strings.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein first and second of said addresses are deemed to be similar if they meet a criterion indicating that they are likely to point to a same electronic mailbox.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein first and second of said addresses are deemed to be similar if they meet at least one predetermined similarity criterion.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein each of said addresses is of the form X@Y, wherein X and Y comprise respective character strings, and wherein said similarity criterion is that X is the same in said first and second addresses.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein each of said addresses is of the form X@Y, wherein X and Y comprise respective character strings, and wherein said similarity criterion is that Y is the same in said first and second addresses.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein said similarity criterion is that said first and second addresses have a string of characters in common that meets a predetermined metric.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said metric is that said string of characters comprises at least a predetermined percentage of the characters of at least said first address.

18. A method for sending a message to a list of electronic mail addresses, the method comprising

assigning individual ones of said addresses to respective different versions of the message, and

sending each of said message versions to each of the addresses assigned thereto,

said assigning being random.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein each of said addresses is of the form X@Y, wherein X and Y comprise respective character strings.

21. A method for counteracting a filtering technique based upon the detection of a duplicate, including

randomly assigning an electronic address on a list to one of m sublists, where m is an integer greater than 1;

creating m different versions of a message; and

sending a different version of the message to the addresses on each sublist, including sending a first version of the message to at least one address on a first sublist and sending a second version of the message to at least one address on a second sublist.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein said second version is created by creating a syntactically different portion of said first version and including said syntactically different portion in the second version.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein said syntactically different portion includes at least one of a syntactically different a) string, b) sentence and c) paragraph.