FAQ: How does Habeas help ISPs and mail security vendors manage email?

As the leading Email Trust Authority, Habeas is the only company that helps ISPs, mail security vendors, and blacklists by both certifying mail practices of senders, and classifying that mail into six types that perfectly align with their vision of the marketplace and commitment to their customers. These six categories correspond to how the corporation obtained permission to send email to that address, and are as follows:

Transactional
One-to-One
Confirmed Opt-in
Single Opt-in
Personal Referral
Registered

ISPs and mail security vendors only accept mail sent to email addresses that have been obtained via informed consent or an opt-in process. These have been defined by the Email Service Providers Coalition as:

Informed Consent: A mechanism through which an individual is clearly and fully notified of the collection and use of an email address and has consented prior to such collection and use. Informed Consent may be implemented in the following forms:

Opt-in: At the point of email address collection, a person has affirmatively requested to be included on an email list to receive commercial email. No confirmation email is sent and the person is not required to take further action to be included on the email list.

You can view the Email Services Providers Coalition pledge here.

Not all email certification and reputation companies follow this standard. Some include senders that use pre-selected options in which a person does not affirmatively request email.

ISPs and mail security vendors refer to these methods of collection as "opt-out", as they require the end user to actively deselect an option in order not to receive email.

This class of mail is often referred to as "retail spam" as it is the most common industry where this practice is seen. For example, Travis goes to a Website and purchases a new watch. Suddenly, next week and every week thereafter Travis receives emails from the retailer about watch specials. Travis missed the pre-filled checkbox that stated "Yes, please send me emails about special offers." Though the box was clear and conspicuous, it was below the submit button on the shopping cart. Because this is so easy to hide, it is not accepted by the email community as true "opt-in".

Quotes from the email community

"Restoring trust to the email ecology requires good sender practices as well as the intelligent application of technology. Given the importance of the medium, enterprises must cultivate a core competence in the use and management of outbound email. StrongMail's mission is to assist senders by providing the future-proof technical foundation they need to succeed in this challenging, ever-changing environment. Our technology has been optimized for the delivery of email, and providing reputation ratings through providers like Habeas is part of the solution."
- Frank Addante, CEO of StrongMail Systems

"We believe email accreditation and certification services such as those provided by Habeas play an important role in the fight against spam and in maintaining the reliability of email."
- Kevin Doerr, MSN Group Business Manager

"Habeas Certified Email is a key security feature to ensure that spam is not received by our users."
- Stephen Morrow, CEO of Anti-Spam Software, makers of SpamAgent

"By integrating Habeas into Spamfire, we've reduced Spamfire's false-postive rate and provided uses with a more reliable spam-filtering experience."
- Michael Herric, President, Matterform media, creators of Spamfire