Patent ID: 7346700

Claim:
A method for blocking excess outbound e-mail traffic originating from an e-mail creation device connected to a shared access network comprising: creating an outbound e-mail message using an e-mail client operated by the e-mail creation device, wherein the outbound e-mail message comprises packets; proffering the outbound e-mail message from the e-mail creation device to an e-mail server via a shared access network; intercepting the proffered outbound e-mail message at an e-mail governor prior to receipt of the proffered e-mail by the e-mail server; obtaining at the e-mail governor the IP address of the e-mail creation device (the “originating IP address”)from a packet; determining at the e-mail governor if the originating IP address matches a stored IP address stored in a stored IP address record; if the originating IP address matches the stored IP address, calculating at the e-mail governor a message transmission rate for the originating IP address and comparing the message transmission rate to a threshold message transmission rate; if the message transmission rate is less than or equal to the threshold message transmission rate, then sending the proffered outbound e-mail message to the e-mail server; if the message transmission rate exceeds the threshold message transmission rate, then discarding the outbound e-mail message and blocking subsequent e-mails from the originating IP address.