The Email Sender and Provider Coalition Continues Support of Sender ID Email Authentication Framework

Announces Member Compliance with Initial Components; Public Availability to Sender ID / SPF Compliance Testing Tool

Washington, D.C., August 31, 2004 -- Today, the Email Sender and Provider Coalition (ESPC) reiterated its support for the Sender ID Framework and announced new membership criteria designed to promote the quick adoption of the standard and the release of a testing environment that will allow ESPC members and the general industry to test their email for Sender ID and SPF (Sender Policy Framework) compliance.

"The ESPC enthusiastically supports sender authentication as a critical first step towards addressing the spam epidemic," said Trevor Hughes, Executive Director of the Email Sender and Provider Coalition. "The testing application will prove to be invaluable to any organization that sends email as they move to comply with Sender ID."

The ESPC's Sender ID testing tool simply requires the sender to send an email using the domain they are testing, then with a single click, a report on the email is returned with information showing whether SPF and Sender ID validates properly. The system can also help test that Sender ID records properly reject "spoofing" domains commonly used in "phishing" attacks. Contributed by ESPC steering committee member SKYLIST, the authentication testing tool is open to the general public and can be accessed at http://www.espcoalition.org/senderid/.

"The ESPC stands behind a unified approach to implementing email authentication to address the growing spam problem," said Gene McKenna, Vice President of Product Management of Digital Impact. "Although not a complete solution to spam, Sender ID is the timeliest and best solution that is currently available and we stand behind it. We are looking forward to continued efforts involving education and increasing industry awareness on the benefits of this emerging standard."

In related news, the ESPC also announced that all new membership is contingent upon SPF1 compliance. Hughes said, "As of today, we are requiring all new members to be in compliance with SPF1 while also publicly stating that our entire membership is currently compliant or in the process of becoming compliant. We see SPF1 as a pivotal element of Sender ID and our compliance is an indication of the sending community's willingness and drive to move the Sender ID effort forward."

About the Email Sender and Provider Coalition:
The Email Sender and Provider Coalition (ESPC) was formed in 2002 to fight spam while protecting the delivery of legitimate email. The ESPC is comprised of over 50 members including AdKnowledge, aQuantive, Constant Contact, Digital Impact, DoubleClick, Experian, GotMarketing, ProspectivDirect, and SKYLIST. The ESPC is currently working on solutions to spam and deliverability concerns through a combination of legislative advocacy, technological development, and industry standards. Its flagship initiative, Project Lumos, is an industry-authored solution to the spam problem. For more information on ESPC, please visit www.espcoalition.org.