A new tool in the fight against SPAM

New Scientist Magazine is reporting that a team from IBM and Cornell have developed a new anti-spam technique that may help to stop those *wonderful* "Purchase generic drugs from our #1 ranked generic drugs provider" and "have your quicker alleviations. quickly" email messages we all get every single freakin' day.

From the article:
"A team from IBM and Cornell University in New York state, US, developed the anti-spam technique, which they call "SMTP Path Analysis". It involves examining information embedded in email messages about the route it has taken across the internet. This allows it to make a good guess as to whether or not a new message is electronic junk mail."

"The SMTP Path Analysis algorithm "learns" by examining the string of internet protocol (IP) addresses included in both spam and legitimate email headers. When a new message arrives, it is then able to judge, with relative accuracy, whether it is legitimate or, in fact, unwanted spam."

Sounds good to me.


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