Patent ID: 7882184

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving a message including a recipient list specifying a list of recipients to receive the message, the recipient list including a name specifying a distribution list including a list of message recipients; receiving an exclusion command at a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server, the exclusion command being implemented as an extension to SMTP and including an exclusion list specifying a list of recipients to be excluded from receiving the message even if specified in the recipient list; determining by the SMTP server that the distribution list includes a name specifying a second distribution list stored on a server other than the SMTP server; providing an SMTP command from the SMTP server to the server hosting the second distribution list in need of resolution; providing the exclusion command from the SMTP server to the server hosting the second distribution list in need of resolution; and removing a recipient from the recipient list by the server hosting the second distribution list in response to the exclusion command, the removing including filtering recipients in the recipient list to exclude recipients also in the exclusion list.