America Online, Microsoft and Yahoo plan to jointly develop a system to defeat spam.
The three leading providers of e-mail accounts said on Sunday that they had begun to work on a system that would rely on a white list of e-mail marketers who agree to a set of standards for responsible practices, according to the New York Times. This would not prevent spam from being sent, but it would allow users to refuse to accept e-mail from those not on the list.
The specific standards have not yet been discussed.
The three Internet service providers developed their plan in advance of a three-day forum on spam to be held by the Federal Trade Commission this Wednesday through Friday.
The said they planned to include other competitors in their talks, but decided instead to form their own alliance, the Times said.
The Direct Marketing Association and the Network Advertising Initiative are also working on their own plans to overcome spam (Direct Newsline, April 18).
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