Unwanted e-mail filtering system including voting feedback

Abstract

A filter mechanism for unwanted e-mail messages uses a downloadable central source (1, 2) of filter rule data. User reports of received unwanted e-mail messages are relayed back to the central source of the filter data and used to automatically update that filter data. An algorithmic approach to identifying characteristics of unwanted e-mail messages may be applied based upon the preponderance of predetermined words within an e-mail message or characteristics of the addressee list. If an e-mail message is identified as suspect, but not definitely unwanted, then it may be encapsulated within a HTML document and sent to its addressee together with buttons (28) allowing the recipient to provide feedback in the form of votes as to whether or not that e-mail message is unwanted. This recipient feedback may be used to establish a new local rule.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]This invention relates to the field of data processing systems. More particularly, this invention relates to the field of e-mail filtering within such data processing systems.[0003]With the rise in the use of e-mail as a communication mechanism, this has been accompanied by a rise in the occurrence of unsolicited and unwanted e-mail messages. These so-called “Spam” messages cause a number of problems, such as consuming physical network and processing resources as well as wasting the time of the recipients in dealing with these messages in their inbox.[0004]2. Description of the Prior Art[0005]It is known to provide e-mail filtering mechanisms that apply predefined rules to received e-mail messages in order that Spam messages may be identified and automatically deleted. These existing system often work on content filtering with rules based on regular expressions applied to all inbound messages. A significant amount of un...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]The invention recognises that unwanted e-mail messages are not generally restricted to a single user and that filtering rules developed in response to receipt of an unwanted e-mail message by one user may well be of use to another user who has yet to receive any of that unwanted e-mail. The invention also recognises that the value of allowing users to report the receipt of new unwanted e-mail messages not already trapped by the filters is that the positive identification of that mail as wanted by a user is very strongly indicative of the mail genuinely being a Spam mail that will be unwanted by all users. This contrasts with computer virus reporting or bug reporting by users where the updating of a central resource by a provider needs much more careful consideration before being performed as users may often be incorrect in their assessment of the nature of the problem. Compared to this, whether or not an e-mail is an unwanted e-mail is a decision that is primarily made in the mind of the recipient and so a report of such an e-mail message to a provider of filtered data is substantially definitive in establishing that the filter data should be modified to prevent receipt of that unwanted e-mail message. This lends the mechanisms well suited to being substantially automated thereby giving a possibility of faster filter generation and anti-Spam protection.

[0012]A particularly preferred feature of the invention is that should the tests identify an e-mail message as potentially unwanted then it is forwarded to its addressee together with a prompt that allows the addressee to provide feedback as to whether or not in their opinion the e-mail is an unwanted e-mail message. This preferred feature builds upon the realisation that the determination of whether or not an e-mail message is an unwanted e-mail message is primarily in the mind of the recipient and accordingly allowing the recipient to make this decision enables the load of maintaining the rules set to be distributed and a faster and more reliable response achieved.

[0014]Whilst the system could be arranged such that new rules could only be created centrally within the downloading source, preferred embodiments provide the ability for local rules t be created. This allows a faster response for an organisation receiving problems through unwanted e-mail messages and also allows a organisation to treat as unwanted e-mail messages that may not qualify as such in the view of the provider of the downloadable filter data.

Problems solved by technology

A significant amount of unwanted e-mail is generally still able to pass through such systems because the filtering rules are not normally maintained to a high degree and tend to lack flexibility to deal with an ever changing problem.

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