Method and apparatus for selective delivery and forwarding of electronic mail

A method for distributing electronic mail messages addressed to an electronic mail address of an electronic mailbox, said method comprising:

• (a) establishing an electronic mail account for a user, said account providing an electronic mailbox having an associated electronic mail address;
• (b) storing an alternate electronic mail address for a user;
• (c) receiving an electronic mail message addressed for delivery to said electronic mailbox;
• (d) identifying a message characteristic associated with said mail message;
• (e) comparing said message characteristic to routing criteria;
• (f) delivering said mail message to said mailbox if said message characteristic corresponds with said routing criteria;
• and
• (g) forwarding said mail message to said alternate electronic mail address if said message characteristic does not correspond with said routing criteria.

A mail server for distributing electronic mail messages addressed for delivery to an electronic mail address of an electronic mailbox, the mail server comprising:

• a central processing unit;
• a memory operatively connected to said central processing unit;
• a telecommunications device operatively connected to said central processing unit and capable of communicating via a communications network;
• a first program stored in said memory and executable by said central processing unit for forwarding a first subset of said messages to an alternate electronic mail address;
• and
• a second program stored in said memory and executable by said central processing unit for delivering a second subset of said messages to said mailbox.