BuyerLeverage Praises FTC for Exploring the Development and Deployment of Technology to Reduce Spam; But Authentication without Accountability is Only a Half-measure.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- BuyerLeverage, a developer and marketer of patent-protected technologies that allow consumers and businesses to control their Internet communication and relationships, today announced support of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) efforts to explore ways to reduce spam through email authentication.

"Authentication is an important step in solving spam, but virtually everyone in the industry agrees that this is only a preliminary step." Mark Landesmann, CEO of BuyerLeverage, said. "Any spammer can send unsolicited commercial email via hundreds or thousands of identified senders by hijacking computers with spyware or by setting up a viral incentive system that pays senders for sending spam in their own name. Authentication without accountability is only a half-measure. Once senders of advertising emails are properly identified, they must be held accountable for their actions. By implementing the second step -- a deposit-based economic solution, spam becomes cost-prohibitive, while legitimate emails remain free."

Recently, BuyerLeverage announced Email Self-Insurance(TM), a user-controlled, economic-based spam solution. Email Self-Insurance(TM) discourages spam at its source by forcing those who send unwanted email to pay for the resources they abuse, while keeping legitimate email free.

By insuring email with a small deposit forfeit only if the recipient deems the message unwanted, legitimate mailers continue to communicate seamlessly and at no cost. Email Self-Insurance will only require deposits from senders not on the recipient's accepted ("white") list. This white list will be automatically populated from the user's address book, sent mail and any accepted messages.

Users of Email Self-Insurance will automatically block all email that neither come from a sender on the white list, nor carries the required deposit. If a sender's address is not found in the recipient's white list, an alert is returned to the sender requiring a deposit be made. Once insured, the email will then appear in the user's inbox at which time the recipient either accepts or rejects the message.

Email Self-Insurance(TM) is compatible with various proposed Sender Authentication protocols including SenderID, DomainKeys and Sender Policy Framework ("SPF"). While these authentication protocols will identify senders, more will need to be done to deter spammers from sending spam in the long term.

"Authentication matches a sender's email address with its sending domain to ensure the domain is legitimate and traceable," said Randy Korba, vice president of Business Development for BuyerLeverage. "The efficacy of accepted lists diminishes if spammers can impersonate accepted senders. An authenticated white list and Email Self-Insurance(TM) work together seamlessly to solve spam permanently."

About BuyerLeverage

BuyerLeverage, based in Palo Alto, California, develops and markets patent-protected technologies that allow consumers and businesses to control their Internet communication and relationships. The company has a broad intellectual property portfolio, which includes patent rights to the market-based technology that Microsoft has called the long-term solution to spam. These technologies have been evaluated and endorsed by several of the country's leading interactive marketing experts. For more information, please visit the Web site at: http://www.buyerleverage.com/.