Patent ID: 7472163

Claim:
A method for distinctively treating electronic messages sent by bulk message senders, the method comprising: applying filtering, including white listing based on white list information, to inbound electronic messages; obtaining an agreement between a messaging service provider and a bulk message sender that the bulk message sender agrees to comply with a set of bulk message policies in exchange for distinctive treatment of electronic messages sent by the bulk message sender; receiving a first electronic message sent by the bulk message sender, the first electronic message being received subsequent to obtaining the agreement between the messaging service provider and the bulk message sender; accessing, from a data record, sender compliance information that is additional to the white list information and associated with the bulk message sender, the sender compliance information being determined by: electronically aggregating information associated with the sending, by the bulk message sender, of electronic messages sent prior to receiving the first electronic message, determining whether the bulk message sender is complying with the set of bulk message policies based on the electronically aggregated information associated with the sending, by the bulk message sender, of electronic messages sent prior to receiving the first electronic message, and determining the sender compliance information that is additional to the white list information and associated with the bulk message sender based on the determination of whether the bulk message sender is complying with the set of bulk message policies; determining whether to distinctively treat the first electronic message based on the agreement of the bulk message sender to comply with the set of bulk message policies in exchange for distinctive treatment of electronic messages sent by the bulk message sender and the accessed sender compliance information that is additional to the white list information and associated with the bulk message sender; distinctively treating the first electronic message in response to determining to distinctively treat the first electronic message; and rendering a display based on the distinctive treatment.