Permissions Server for Email Identity Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current email systems face challenges in combating spam, phishing, and malware, leading to overwhelming volumes of unwanted emails that threaten users' privacy and security, as existing solutions are inadequate in verifying the legitimacy of email senders and recipients.
Innovation Solution
A permissions-based communication system that utilizes asymmetric public key encryption to verify sender and recipient identities, allowing recipients to grant or deny permission for future communications, and uses a permissions server to manage and validate these permissions, thereby reducing spam and enhancing security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional email systems are used to allow free communication between any senders and recipients, then ease of operation is improved, but harmful factors increase due to spam, phishing, and malware
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a permission server as an intermediary between senders and recipients. The permission server stores and verifies permission records that indicate whether recipients have authorized specific senders to communicate with them. This intermediary mechanism filters out unauthorized communications (spam) while allowing authorized communications to pass through, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and harmful factors
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by requiring senders to obtain permission from recipients before sending communications. The permission server stores these advance permissions, and the system checks them before delivering emails. This preliminary authorization process prevents spam and malicious communications from reaching recipients in the first place, while maintaining ease of operation for authorized communications
2Object-affected harmful factors
If permission verification mechanisms are implemented to reduce spam, then harmful factors decrease, but device complexity increases due to additional verification steps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the permission verification functionality from the email delivery system and places it in a separate, dedicated permission server. This extraction allows the main email delivery system to remain simple while the complex permission management logic resides in a specialized component. The permission server handles all verification operations, reducing the complexity burden on other system components
Solution Approach 2:
The permission server serves multiple functions: it stores permission records, verifies sender permissions, manages permission databases, and provides authorization decisions. By consolidating these diverse functions into a single multi-functional component, the system avoids the complexity that would arise from distributing these functions across multiple separate components, thus reducing overall system complexity while effectively reducing spam
3Reliability
If asymmetric encryption is used to verify identities, then reliability is improved, but use of energy increases due to cryptographic operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements partial action by using asymmetric encryption only for critical identity verification operations rather than encrypting all email communications. The permission server verifies sender identities using digital signatures and permission records, which requires cryptographic operations only at the verification stage. This partial application of encryption maintains reliability for identity verification while minimizing energy consumption compared to full-end-to-end encryption of all communications
Data Source
AI summary
A method for permissions based communication in an example includes receiving an electronic communication from a sender to a recipient at a domain server. The electronic communication may include a permission request for permission to send subsequent electronic communications to the recipient. The electronic communication may be analyzed at the domain server to determine whether to deliver the subsequent electronic communications from the sender to the recipient.