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'Spam' foes get new weapon
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March 17, 1998: 6:02 p.m. ET
Sendmail Inc. launches new software that can filter unwanted e-mail messages
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Frustrated e-mail users may finally have a weapon to fight the torrent of unwanted advertisement flooding their mailboxes.
The makers of Sendmail, a leading supplier of free mail processing software used by many major Internet service providers, unveiled a new version of the program Tuesday that may just dam the flow of the so-called "spam" messages.
Delivering bulk e-mail is a virtually cost free, and nearly uninhibited way of distributing sales pitches to defenseless consumers.
"Spam" has spawned a cottage industry that has infuriated many time-conscious Internet surfers and has nearly crippled big online services like America Online by bloating their servers and chewing up their bandwidths.
Now comes Sendmail 8.9, which its authors say can arm disgruntled masses looking for a defense from what they see as a major blight on the Web.
Earlier versions of Sendmail, distributed free starting in the late 1970s, have ballooned and now power roughly three-quarters of the servers that direct e-mail traffic.
Sitting atop that ostensible gold mine, the software's founders -- Greg Olson and Eric Allman -- are going corporate with what had been a spontaneous venture true to the purest non-commercial roots of the Internet.
Sendmail Inc. will sell a souped-up version to high-end business customers, but the freeware version still will be available.
"Lots of large commercial vendors are getting into this market, and they have not shown dedication to the standards-based approach or to free access to the essential technology," said Allman, Sendmail Inc.'s chief technology officer and author of the program.
"In order to stave off their encroachment, Sendmail has to become a major force in the market," Allman said. "Only with full support of the commercial and freeware sides will we win."
The Sendmail software works through the Internet's back end, so computer users don't know of its functions as much as Internet Service Providers do.
Olson says ISPs will benefit from the new options by screening and weeding out tactics used by bulk e-mail senders.
Among the new Sendmail features:
- Messages can be received on the basis of header contents, so e-mails to "friend@public.com" can be filtered out.
- A new built-in "discard" mailer allows messages to be accepted and then dropped.
- A restriction can be placed on large messages sent at one time to multiple users, the foundation of "spam".
"'Spam' is the number-one issue for ISP's. It's killing them," according to Olson, who said it accounts for as much as 20 percent of all e-mail. "This is definitely going to change the Internet."
The trick has been to separate the "spam" from the legitimate traffic. Olson said Sendmail felt it would be "verboten" to accidentally filter out desired messages. 
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Sendmail Inc.
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