Earthlink Upgrades Spam, Pop-up Blockers

By: Peter Landau (Adweek Magazines' Technology Marketing) In an ongoing effort to eradicate spam, EarthLink is offering its subscribers spamBlocker, which claims to eliminate virtually 100% of all junk e-mail. The product is being offered at no additional charge, and the ISP also announced the upgrade of its Pop-Up Blocker to stop flash-animated ads and allow customers to utilize pop-up windows while using secure Web sites.

According to a spokesperson at EarthLink, the new spamBlocker and upgraded Pop-Up Blocker will be marketed with a new television campaign launching in July. Also at that time, spamBlocker will be highlighted in the company's direct marketing, especially through direct mail. There will be an online component to the campaign on the EarthLink.net site.

The new product, spamBlocker, builds upon EarthLink's spaminator product and offers subscribers a new level of protection. By residing on the company's e-mail servers, spamBlocker blocks junk email messages before they ever reach the customer's inbox.

The way spamBlocker works is by invoking a "permission-based" auto-response to spam and unrecognized e-mail addresses, asking the sender to fill out a short, easy-to-complete form to gain access to the EarthLink subscriber's inbox. The subscriber can choose to accept or reject the sender's request, and if admitted, add the sender's address to his or her address book.

The Pop-Up Blocker feature provides subscribers with the ability to choose between two levels of pop-up blocking. By selecting "Full," subscribers can continue to stop all pop-ups. The "Normal" option allows users to enable pop-up windows on all clicked hyperlinks like calendars or charts and conduct business on secure Web sites -- such as online banking or e-commerce transactions -- while continuing to block superfluous pop-up ads.

EarthLink has a long history of aggressively fighting spam. In addition to technical solutions like spamBlocker, EarthLink's multifacted approach includes legal action, legislative support, and consumer education. Most recently, the company has pursued legal action to shut down a Buffalo, N.Y.-based spam ring accused of sending more than 850 million illegal e-mails since March 2002.