Degrees of Separation Spam Filtering via Contact Network Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
The proliferation of spam e-mail burdens both users and providers due to its low cost and high volume, disrupting communication and incurring significant storage and bandwidth costs.
Innovation Solution
A method is introduced to determine the 'degrees of separation' between a sender and an intended recipient by analyzing their contact lists, using this metric to classify communications as spam or legitimate, thereby filtering out unwanted messages based on the number of intermediary entities required to link them.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If traditional spam filtering methods are used, then spam e-mail can be blocked, but legitimate communications may be incorrectly filtered and user experience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces intermediary entities (contacts in the recipient's address book) as mediators to verify the legitimacy of communications. By checking whether the sender is linked to the recipient through one or more intermediaries, the system can distinguish spam from legitimate communications more accurately, reducing false positives while still blocking spam effectively.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If all communications are filtered to identify spam, then spam e-mail can be blocked, but system complexity and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing contact lists and intermediary relationships before spam filtering is needed. When a communication arrives, the system quickly checks whether the sender exists in the pre-built network of intermediaries, rather than analyzing the entire communication network in real-time. This significantly reduces processing complexity and time while maintaining effective spam detection.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If degree of separation filtering is implemented, then spam e-mail is reduced, but storage and bandwidth resources are consumed building and maintaining contact networks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by limiting the degree of separation to a small number of intermediaries (e.g., 1-3 levels) rather than analyzing the entire communication network. This partial approach sufficiently identifies spam while consuming minimal storage and bandwidth resources, as the system only needs to maintain and query a limited portion of the contact network rather than the complete network structure.
Data Source
AI summary
A sender's degrees of separation from a recipient may be used to aid in spam filtering or to otherwise handle a communication. The “degrees of separation” represent a metric used to quantify whether/how the recipient is linked to the sender through intermediary people or other entities. A level of “trust” or “legitimacy” about a sender's communication can be inferred by looking at whether the sender is linked to an intended recipient. Typically, user contact lists (e.g., address book, buddy list, and/or white list) are evaluated to determine the number of degrees (or hops) are required to link or relate two users.