[Mimedefang] AD: Roaring Penguin press release on Locked Addresses

[David F. Skoll]

Hi,

I try to minimize the amount of self-promotion on the MIMEDefang list,
but I think we've come up with an excellent idea in our CanIt-PRO software,
and I'm sharing it with anyone who feels like implementing it him/herself.

Our official press release is at:
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/10/emw298023.htm

Basically, CanIt-PRO lets you create a random-looking address (in our
case, it might create something like 6FEzg2cH8k at la.roaringpenguin.com).

Internally, this address is associated with your real e-mail address.
The very *first* time someone sends e-mail to that address, CanIt-PRO
"locks" the address and forwards the mail to your real address.  From
now on, only that same sender can send e-mail to the address; everyone
else gets a "User Unknown" error.  The idea is that you give out these
"locked addresses" to people from whom you wish to obtain information,
but whom you don't quite trust not to resell your address.  You could
also generate a page of locked addresses and give them out at a
conference or trade show.  Each recipient gets a different
non-reusable address.

There are variations on the theme that aren't mentioned in the press
release:  You can have an address that locks to a domain (rather than
a specific sender), and you can set the failure action to simply hold
the message for review rather than outright reject it.  CanIt-PRO also
keeps a log of lock violations, so you can track who is selling your
e-mail address, and who they're selling it to.

Anyway, it's fairly easy to implement, or you can just purchase
CanIt-PRO if you don't want to do it yourself. :-)

Regards,

David.