"Sender ID" begins

[LeeRyder]

looks like Microsoft (and hotmail specifically) has begun using it's sender ID technology today. this is the message it gives you:

Sender ID is an initiative championed by Microsoft and other industry leaders as a technical solution to help counter spoofing, which is the primary deceptive practice used by spammers.

E-mail domain spoofing involves forging a sender's address on e-mail messages. It can be used by malicious individuals to mislead e-mail recipients into reading and responding to deceptive mail. These phony messages can jeopardize the online safety of the user and damage the reputation of the company purported to have sent the message. Spoofed e-mail often contains "phishing" scams. In such ploys, a spammer, posing as a trusted party such as a bank or reputable online vendor, sends millions of e-mail messages directing recipients to websites that appear to be official but are in reality scams. Visitors to these fraudulent websites are asked to disclose personal information, such as credit card numbers, or to purchase counterfeit or pirated products.

Sender ID seeks to verify that every e-mail message originates from the Internet domain from which it claims to have been sent. This is accomplished by checking the address of the server sending the mail against a registered list of servers that the domain owner or e-mail recipient have allowed to send e-mail. This comparison is automatically performed by the Internet service provider (ISP) or recipient's e-mail server before the e-mail message is delivered. If the Sender ID verification passes, the message is delivered as regular mail. If the check fails, the message is further analyzed and may be refused by the receiving server, or flagged to the user as a possible deceptive message. Depending on the recipient's ISP or e-mail server software, messages that fail the Sender ID check may be flagged and sorted differently. For example, a simple icon may be displayed in the message to indicate the failure; the message may be sent to the junk mail folder for the recipient's review, or it may be automatically rejected and deleted.

There is no single solution to stopping all spam and online fraud. Rather, Sender ID is a significant first step that many in the industry are supporting to counter spam and online phishing attacks.