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There are several common forms of opt-in e-mail: ;Unconfirmed opt-in : A new subscriber first gives his/her address to the list software (for instance, on a Web page), but no steps are taken to make sure that this address actually belongs to the person. This can cause e-mail from the mailing list to be considered spam because simple typos of the email address can cause the email to be sent to someone else. Malicious subscriptions are also possible, as are subscriptions that are due to spammers forging email addresses that are sent to the e-mail addressed used to subscribe to the mailing list. ;Confirmed opt-in : A new subscriber asks to be subscribed to the mailing list, but unlike unconfirmed opt-in, a confirmation e-mail is sent to verify it was really them. The person must not be added to the mailing list unless an explicit step is taken, such as clicking a special web link or sending back a reply e-mail. The web link or reply e-mail must contains some sort of secret word or token that can not be guessed by a malicious person. This ensures that no person can subscribe someone else out of malice or error. Mail system administrators and non-spam mailing list operators refer to confirmed subscription or closed-loop opt-in. {Link without Title} ;Double opt-in : A term coined by spammers to refer to the normal operation of secure electronic mailing list software. The intention of the term "double opt-in" is to make it appear that the confirmation is a duplication of effort; and thus, to justify not confirming subscriptions. A commonly use analogy between "confirmed opt-in" and "double opt-in" is to consider when you give a waiter your lunch order; when the waiter reads back your order and asks if it is right, this is confirming your lunch order, not doubling ordering. While some marketers use the terms "double opt-in" to mean "confirmed opt-in", the use of this term is generally a good indicator that the marketer does not understand good mailing list practices and will do many other things wrong, such as reselling your e-email address to others. ;Opt-out :Instead of giving people the option to be put in the list, they are automatically put in and have the option to be taken out. E-mail Authentication E-mail authentication refers to a technique for validating that a person claiming to possess a particular email address actually does so. This is normally done by sending an email containing a token to the address, and requiring that the party being authenticated supply that token before the authentication proceeds. The email containing the token is usually worded so as to explain the situation to the recipient and discourage them from supplying the nonce (often via visiting a URL ) unless they in fact were attempting to authenticate. For example, suppose that one party, Alice, operates a website on which visitors can make accounts to participate or gain access to content. Another party, Bob, comes to that website and makes an account. Bob supplies an email address at which he can be contacted, but Alice does not yet know that Bob is being truthful (consciously or not) about the address. Alice sends a token to Bob's email address an authentication request, asking Bob to click on a particular URL if and only if the recipient of the mail was making an account on Alice's website. Bob receives the mail and clicks the URL, demonstrating to Alice that he controls the email address he claimed to have. If instead a hostile party, Chuck, were to visit Alice's website attempting to masquerade as Bob, he would be unable to register for an account because the confirmation would be sent to Bob's email address, which Chuck does not control. This degree of email authentication is considered by many Anti-spam advocates to be the minimum degree necessary for any Opt-in email Advertising or other ongoing email communication. SEE ALSO |
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