Patent ID: 7941842

Claim:
A method to protect a master do-not-email list from being compromised, comprising: creating, for a client, a set of one or more false email addresses that each points to an email account that is not used for any real email, wherein the set of false email addresses is unique to the client; applying a one way encryption scheme to the set of false email addresses to create a set of encrypted false email addresses; recording the set of encrypted false email addresses created for the client on the master do-not-email list, wherein the master do-not-email list also includes a plurality of encrypted real email addresses that correspond to a plurality of real email addresses that each point to an email account that is used for real email and does not wish to be contacted; seeding a client do-not-email list, for the client, with the plurality of encrypted real email addresses and the set of encrypted false email addresses, wherein the client is not to send email messages to email addresses corresponding to the encrypted email addresses on the client do-not-email list, and wherein the client has a client email list that includes email addresses to which the client applies the one way encryption scheme and compares the results to the encrypted email addresses on the client do-not-email list to determine which email addresses to not send email messages; and monitoring the one or more email accounts corresponding to the set of false email addresses for received email messages, wherein email messages received at one of the set of email accounts is an indication that the client should be investigated to determine potential liability.