Message challenge response
View Patent ↗A system and method are disclosed for registering a email sender for the purpose of sending an email message to an email receiver including receiving a challenge message wherein the challenge message includes a machine answerable question; processing the challenge message to determine that it is a challenge message sent for the purpose of authorizing delivery of the email message; analyzing the question to determine a valid response to the challenge message; and sending the valid response that includes the answer wherein a nontrivial amount of resources are required to send the valid response.
1. A method of registering an electronic-mail (e-mail) sender for the purpose of sending e-mail messages to an e-mail recipient, the method comprising:
receiving an e-mail sent by the e-mail sender to the e-mail recipient;
executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor of an independent third-party auditor
generates a challenge message in response to an e-mail message received by the e-mail recipient, wherein:
the challenge message includes a machine answerable question, a nontrivial amount of resources are required to determine a valid response to the machine answerable question, and
the non-trivial amount of resources is adjustable by the independent third-party auditor;
sending the challenge message to the e-mail sender;
receiving a response to the challenge message sent by the e-mail sender, wherein the validity of the response is evaluated by the independent third-party auditor; and
sending a report generated by the independent third-party auditor to the e-mail recipient, the report indicating the validity of the response, wherein the e-mail recipient processes registration of the e-mail sender based on the report.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nontrivial amount of resources is adjustable to be greater than a minimum amount of resources necessary to generate a properly formatted response to the machine answerable question.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nontrivial amount of resources includes dedication of processor cycles.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nontrivial amount of resources includes dedication of system memory.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nontrivial amount of resources includes micropayments, and wherein the e-mail sender authorizes the independent third-party auditor to collect a micropayment in the response to the challenge message.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the authorized micropayment is collected from an escrow account of the e-mail sender.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nontrivial amount of resources includes licensing rights.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the report indicates the response is not valid, and wherein the e-mail recipient does not register the e-mail sender based on the report.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the challenge message further includes a human answerable question.
10. A system of registering an electronic-mail (e-mail) sender for the purpose of sending e-mail messages to an e-mail recipient, the system comprising:
a network interface that receives an e-mail sent by the e-mail sender to the e-mail recipient; and
an independent third-party auditor server that executes instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor of the independent third-party auditor generates a challenge message in response to an e-mail message received by the e-mail recipient, wherein:
the challenge message includes a machine answerable question, a nontrivial amount of resources are required to determine a valid response to the machine answerable question, and
the non-trivial amount of resources is adjustable by the independent third-party auditor;
wherein the network interface:
sends the challenge message to the e-mail sender;
receives a response to the challenge message sent by the e-mail sender, wherein the validity of the response is evaluated by the independent third-party auditor; and
sends a report generated by the independent third-party auditor to the e-mail recipient, the report indicating the validity of the response, wherein the e-mail recipient processes registration of the e-mail sender based on the report.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the nontrivial amount of resources is adjustable to be greater than a minimum amount of resources necessary to generate a properly formatted response to the machine answerable question.
12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the nontrivial amount of resources includes dedication of processor cycles.
13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the nontrivial amount of resources includes dedication of system memory.
14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the nontrivial amount of resources includes micropayments, and wherein the e-mail sender authorizes the independent third-party auditor to collect a micropayment in the response to the challenge message.
15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the authorized micropayment is collected from an escrow account of the e-mail sender.
16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the nontrivial amount of resources includes licensing rights.
17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the report indicates the response is not valid, and wherein the e-mail recipient does not register the e-mail sender based on the report.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the challenge message further includes a human answerable question.
19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, wherein the program is executable by a processor to perform a method of registering an electronic-mail (e-mail) sender for the purpose of sending e-mail messages to an e-mail recipient, the method comprising:
receiving an e-mail sent by the e-mail sender to the e-mail recipient;
generating a challenge message, using an independent third-party auditor, in response to an e-mail message received by the e-mail recipient, wherein:
the challenge message includes a machine answerable question,
a nontrivial amount of resources are required to determine a valid response to the machine answerable question, and
the non-trivial amount of resources is adjustable by the independent third-party auditor;
sending the challenge message to the e-mail sender;
receiving a response to the challenge message sent by the e-mail sender, wherein the validity of the response is evaluated by the independent third-party auditor; and
sending a report generated by the independent third-party auditor to the e-mail recipient, the report indicating the validity of the response, wherein the e-mail recipient processes registration of the e-mail sender based on the report.