Method of electronic message delivery with penalties for unsolicited messages

A method of facilitating transmission of a message from a sender to a receiver, comprising:

• storing sender identification information in association with a penalty that a sender is willing to incur for a first message that is unwanted by the receiver;
• receiving a query about whether a sender of a first message satisfies specified sending criteria;
• determining whether the sender satisfies the specified sending criteria;
• and
• sending a second message specifying whether the sender of the first message satisfies the specified sending criteria, for use by the receiver in determining whether to accept the first message wherein the determining step comprises determining a sender experience value for the sender of the first message, wherein the sender experience value is computed as the penalty divided by a sum of a number of complaints about unwanted messages that are actually received from the sender and an estimate of a number of complaints that are not yet filed or never filed by the receiver and any other receivers.

A method of authorizing transmission of a first message from a sender to a receiver, comprising:

• storing sender identification information in association with a penalty value identifying an amount of monetary value that a sender is willing to pay for a specified message that is sent by the sender to the receiver and that is unwanted by the receiver;
• receiving a query about whether a first message from the sender is subject to a penalty offered by the sender;
• determining whether the first message is subject to a penalty offered by the sender;
• sending a second message specifying whether the first message is subject to a penalty offered by the sender;
• receiving a third message, from the receiver, indicating that the first message is unwanted;
• and
• in response to receiving the third message, determining a sender experience value for the sender of the first message, wherein the sender experience value is computed as the amount of monetary value divided by a sum of a number of complaints about unwanted messages that are actually received from the sender and an estimate of a number of complaints that are not yet filed or never filed by the receiver and any other receivers.

A method for processing an electronic message, comprising:

• receiving a first message from a sender that is sent to an intended recipient;
• requesting a service operator to determine whether the sender of the first message satisfies specified sending criteria;
• receiving a second message from the service operator indicating whether the sender satisfies the specified sending criteria;
• forwarding the first message to the intended recipient only when the second message indicates that the sender of the first message satisfies the specified sending criteria;
• wherein the second message indicates whether, for the sender, an amount of monetary value that the sender has agreed to forfeit is greater than a penalty that is computed as a base penalty amount multiplied by the sum of (a) a number of complaints about unwanted messages that are actually received from the sender and (b) an estimate of a number of complaints that are not yet made or never made by the receiver and any other receiver.

A method for processing an electronic message. comprising:

• receiving a first message from a sender that is sent to an intended recipient;
• requesting a service operator to determine whether the sender of the first message satisfies specified sending criteria;
• receiving a second message from the service operator indicating whether the sender satisfies the specified sending criteria;
• forwarding the first message to the intended recipient only when the second message indicates that the sender of the first message satisfies the specified sending criteria;
• wherein the second message includes a sender experience value for the sender of the first message, wherein the sender experience value is computed as the amount of monetary value divided by a sum of a number of complaints about unwanted messages that are actually received from the sender and an estimate of a number of complaints that are not yet filed or never filed by the receiver and any other receivers.

A method of managing electronic messages sent from a sender to a recipient, comprising:

• receiving agreement from a message sender to pay a penalty, wherein the penalty is based upon a determination that one or more electronic messages sent by the message sender to message recipients are unwanted by the message recipients;
• receiving one or more indications that a message sent by the message sender is unwanted by one or more of the message recipients;
• creating and storing one or more records of the indications;
• charging the message sender a penalty based upon the number of indications that are received;
• and
• informing the recipient whether, for the sender, an amount of monetary value that the sender has agreed to forfeit is greater than a base penalty amount multiplied by the sum of (a) a number of complaints about unwanted messages that are actually received from the sender and (b) an estimate of a number of complaints that are not yet made or never made by the receiver and any other receiver.

A method of managing electronic messages sent from a sender to a recipient, comprising:

• receiving agreement from a message sender to pay a penalty, wherein the penalty is based upon a determination that one or more electronic messages sent by the message sender to message recipients are unwanted by the message recipients;
• receiving one or more indications that a message sent by the message sender is unwanted by one or more of the message recipients;
• creating and storing one or more records of the indications;
• charging the message sender a penalty based upon the number of indications that are received;
• and
• further comprising informing the recipient of a a sender experience value for the sender of the first message, wherein the sender experience value is computed as the amount of monetary value divided by a sum of a number of complaints about unwanted messages that are actually received from the sender and an estimate of a number of complaints that are not yet filed or never filed by the receiver and any other receivers.

A method of penalizing a sender of unsolicited messages directed through a receiver to a recipient, comprising the steps of:

• receiving an encrypted token that the sender provided in the message;
• determining, based on values in the encrypted token, whether the sender actually created the token;
• determining whether the sender has sufficient credit to suffer a penalty if the message is unwanted by the recipient;
• sending a response message identifying whether the sender actually created the token and whether the sender has sufficient credit;
• receiving information specifying that the message is unwanted;
• and
• determining a sender experience value for the sender of the message, wherein the sender experience value is computed as the amount of monetary value divided by a sum of a number of complaints about unwanted messages that are actually received from the sender and an estimate of a number of complaints that are not yet filed or never filed by the receiver and any other receivers.