System and method for identifying unwanted communications using communication fingerprinting

A system for identifying communicators as wanted or unwanted based on messages from such communicators, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory having executable instructions stored thereon that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
• receive an inbound communication from a communicator;
• compare the inbound communication to fingerprints stored in a database accessible to the processor, the fingerprints including data representative of content features from communications associated with unwanted communicators;
• determine at least one match of the inbound communication to the fingerprints;
• associate a communicator identifier with the communicator based on the at least one match to the fingerprints, the communicator identifier including a descriptive name associated with the fingerprint;
• and
• provide the communicator identifier to recipients of future communications from the communicator.

Non-transitory computer-readable media comprising program code that when executed by a programmable processor causes execution of a method for identifying communicators as wanted or unwanted based on messages from such communicators, the computer-readable media comprising:

• computer program code for receiving an inbound communication from a communicator;
• computer program code for comparing the inbound communication to fingerprints stored in a database accessible to the processor, the fingerprints including data representative of content features from communications associated with unwanted communicators;
• computer program code for determining at least one match of the inbound communication to the fingerprints;
• computer program code for associating a communicator identifier with the communicator based on the at least one match to the fingerprints, the communicator identifier including a descriptive name associated with the fingerprint;
• and
• computer program code for providing the communicator identifier to recipients of future communications from the communicator.

A method, in a communication environment including a data processing system comprising a processor and a memory, for identifying communicators as wanted or unwanted based on messages from such communicators, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a data processing system, a recording of a communication from a communicator;
• generating, by the data processing system, a candidate fingerprint based on the communication recording, the candidate fingerprint including data representative of content features from the communication recording;
• determining, by the data processing system, that the candidate fingerprint does not match any fingerprints stored in a database of verified fingerprints;
• identifying, by the data processing system, the communicator as unwanted and tagging, by the data processing system, the candidate fingerprint as being unwanted;
• associating, by the data processing system, a descriptive name with the candidate fingerprint, the descriptive name including an identification of the unwanted communicator;
• and
• adding, by the data processing system, the candidate fingerprint to the database for comparison with future communications.