Microsoft Pushing Anti-Spam Safety Bar

The software major Microsoft Corp is introducing a new safety-bar in its Hotmail accounts to warn users that the email they have received may be spam. However, the move is stepping up the pressure on email senders to adopt its Send ID spam fighting technology.

The Sender ID technology seeks to cut down on junk email by making it difficult for spammers to forge email headers and addresses. It uses a database with mail servers’ unique numeric addresses to verify the message was actually processed by one of those mail servers.

Microsoft says that its new safety will alert customers when potential deceptive email has reached their inbox. However, the safety-bar will catch any email message coming from email marketers without a proper Send ID and flag is as spam.

"MSN Postmaster and Smart Network Data Services represent a move toward broader, more comprehensive and transparent information sharing with ISPs and e-mail senders to ensure that e-mail continues to be an essential and valuable communications tool," said Kevin Doerr, product unit manager for MSN Hotmail at Microsoft.

"Deploying Sender ID on the MSN Hotmail service allows Microsoft to move to the next level of protection, which is to provide information about suspicious e-mails to recipients," he said.