AT&T Anti-Spam Patent: Disrupting Filtering Technologies

Citing an "arms race" in the ongoing spam wars, AT&T defended its patenting of a technology to thwart antispam filters. The patent, awarded to AT&T on Nov. 4, describes a "system and method for counteracting message filtering." The patent . . . Citing an "arms race" in the ongoing spam wars, AT&T defended its patenting of a technology to thwart antispam filters. The patent, awarded to AT&T on Nov. 4, describes a "system and method for counteracting message filtering." The patent details a way to trick filters that compare digital messages to known pieces of spam, altering each message so that no two are exactly the same.

"In this way, spam countermeasures based upon duplicate detection schemes are foiled," according to the patent.

AT&T's patent wins approval as spam and software patents separately preoccupy the Internet. Opponents, pointing to patent-infringement judgments like that won by Eolas Technologies at Microsoft's expense, say software patents have created a siege mentality in the industry. And the spam problem has resulted in a host of proposed solutions in the software, standards and legislative arenas.