SPF for Users: How it works

	SPF website


Sender Policy Framework

All spam has a cost for the people who get it, but forged spam has a much bigger cost for the people whose addresses get forged into the messages. ISPs can close their accounts. They receive nasty emails from people who received the forged spam. Their mailbox gets clogged up with bounce messages. And it happens to a lot of people, people who would never spam, every day.

Furthermore, how do you complain about spam, track down the spammer, if it's easy for them to hide their identity? Even in the cases of out-and-out fraud, if you can't figure out who is REALLY sending the message, there's very little you can do.

Pobox has teamed with industry leaders like Microsoft and AOL to introduce SPF, a proposal to stop email forgery. To make spammers send mail from their real domains, instead of hijacking the accounts of innocent users.

SPF lets domains say what computers are allowed to send mail as that domain. If your domain uses SPF, and someone tries to send mail as you in Timbuktu (assuming, of course, your ISP is not in Timbuktu), your correspondent's ISP can reject the message, or just flag it for discarding.

The best part? You don't have to worry about it! Your ISP sets up the acceptable senders. Your correspondent's ISP does the checking. To users, SPF is a seamless process, protecting your email address without causing you headaches.

If you're interested in how SPF can help reduce spam and email forgery, talk to your ISP. Ask them if they publish SPF records, and check incoming mail for SPF records, too. If they say no, direct them to http://www.openspf.org for information on how to get started.

If you control your own domain, check out our instructions on using SPF.

Fighting spam is an long and expensive battle. Make a donation to the cause, or buy some of our gear, and spread the word!

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