Patent ID: 7925709

Claim:
A method of handling distinctive treatment of electronic messages sent by at least one of a plurality of bulk message senders, the method comprising: providing a set of bulk message policies, wherein the at least one of the plurality of bulk message senders has agreed to comply with the set of bulk message policies in exchange for distinctive treatment of electronic messages sent by the at least one of the plurality of bulk message senders; applying filtering, including white listing based on white list information, to inbound electronic messages, the white listing comprising providing, to the inbound electronic messages, a first level of distinctive treatment that is preferential to regular treatment of electronic messages; receiving a first electronic message sent by the at least one of the plurality of bulk message senders; accessing, from a data record, sender compliance information that is additional to the white list information and associated with the at least one of the plurality of bulk message senders, the sender compliance information being determined by: electronically aggregating information associated with the sending, by the at least one of the plurality of bulk message senders, of electronic messages sent prior to receiving the first electronic message; electronically analyzing the electronically aggregated information associated with the sending, by the at least one of the plurality of bulk message senders, of electronic messages sent prior to receiving the first electronic message; electronically determining whether the at least one of the plurality of bulk message senders is complying with a set of bulk message policies based on the electronic analysis of the electronically aggregated information associated with the sending, by the at least one of the plurality of bulk message senders, 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 at least one of the plurality of bulk message senders based on the determination of whether the bulk message sender is complying with the set of bulk message policies; determining whether to provide a second level of distinctive treatment to the first electronic message based on the accessed sender compliance information that is additional to the white list information and associated with the at least one of the plurality of bulk message senders, the second level of distinctive treatment being preferential to the first level of distinctive treatment; and providing the second level of distinctive treatment to the first electronic message in response to determining to provide the second level of distinctive treatment to the first electronic message.