Stanford student develops free anti-spam program

STANFORD, Calif. – If regular filters can’t stop spam from taking over your inbox, Stanford University computer science graduate student David Erickson has got your back with Default Off Email (DOEmail), which Erickson developed in tandem with Associate Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Nick McKeown.\nDOEmail is a free anti-spam tool that is similar to a buddy list for instant messengers and allows users to broadly categorize received mail. There are three basic groups: a list for people you want mail from, a list for people you don’t want mail from and the unknown for all uncategorized addresses.\nEmails received and classified under “unknown” generate an auto-response from DOEmail – a form is sent back to the sender in order to verify that the sender is human. The sender then has three weeks to respond.\nErickson said, DOEmail can help users regain control of their inboxes.\n“Spam is a serious problem – 74 to 95 percent of e-mail received is spam, and DOEmail is a simple solution that gives a lot of power to the user,” he said.\nDOEmail includes options that allow users to micromanage their spam control or to merely set broad filters and let the program do the rest.\nErickson said, who completed his undergraduate education at the University of Utah, these options set DOEmail apart from other systems.\nWhen asked to compare other anti-spam tools like content filtering with his project, Erickson said these programs “aren’t as effective” and that DOEmail is “more user-friendly.” DOEmail has a plug-in for Mozilla Thunderbird and is accessible to anyone who wants to use it.\nTo learn more about DOEmail, visit www.doemail.org.