Electronic communications have become widely accepted for communicating among people and/or groups of people. One such example of widely accepted communications includes electronic mail also referred to as email. Early versions of email were designed to be technologically flexible so that anyone could transmit a message to anyone else. In this regard, there was an implied trust between a sender and a recipient. As email usage increased into a mass communication medium, a lack of controls corresponding to the technological flexibility and the implied trust has been exploited by groups and individuals to send unwanted email messages (spam) to large groups of people. Email receipt providers and/or Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have responded by trying to identify spam senders and blocking future content from such senders. For example, email receipt providers and/or ISPs may include applications for a recipient to identify spam. Unfortunately, such identifications may also have unintended punitive affects on legitimate senders.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds