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No profit for Microsoft in 'bonded seller' e-mail

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Two weeks ago, this column mischaracterized a Microsoft e-mail filtering service based on a "bonded sender" template. Microsoft will not receive any money from the program, which will be operated independently by a company called IronPort. The system is intended to supplement other filtering services.

The use of the bonded-sender technology, according to George Webb, group business manager for Microsoft's spam technology and strategy team, is to ultimately separate spam from e-mail marketing conducted by legitimate companies. By requiring certain standards for this communication, the idea is to raise the bar for participation.

Ultimately, it is presumed that those approved through this process are trustworthy enough to deserve your business and will conduct themselves accordingly if you ask them to not send you any more messages.

And unlike those annoying "opt out" routines that never seem to work, a bonded sender asks you to "opt in." So anyone who is on this kind of mailing list is asking for the message. This could become a real moneymaker on the advertising side, as the lists will become extremely valuable and easily targeted.

Microsoft, according to Webb, isn't stopping with bonded sender. There are other spam-fighting strategies. Legislation is needed to provide a legal deterrent. Consumer education must outline how the average person should act when confronted by spam. Industry cooperation is needed to set standards for prevention, continuing joint efforts by Microsoft, Yahoo! America Online and any other significant players. Technology needs to offer new solutions, and more capable filtering systems need to be developed to reduce "false positives."

Webb said these five strategies need parallel execution. Like links in a chain, if one is weak, the whole effort won't succeed.

Microsoft, it bears repeating, is not making any money from this. Why would the company be so benevolent, especially considering current perceptions?

According to Webb, the company wants happy customers, and spam makes them unhappy. It's a little like cleaning up after a parade, even if some of the messy stuff came out of someone else's animals.

This effort falls under the category of good citizenship.

We can be cynical and say Microsoft is getting something out of this and it will never do anything that doesn't lead to some kind of financial gain.
 
Ultimately, if any scheme gets rid of spam, we really shouldn't care who pays the tab. But it is nice to know where their motivation lies.

If you have questions or suggestions for Charles Bermant, you can contact him by e-mail at cbermant@seattletimes.com. Type Inbox in the subject field. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists