Gimmicks usually go away, however, and such is the case here with the haiku. What’s truly surprising, though, is that Habeas hasn’t gone away with it … and doesn’t appear headed anywhere but up anytime soon.
Combining the clout of copyright law with a few lines of poetry in order to hammer spammers was always seen here as clever – as gimmicks go – despite the obvious challenge of mustering enough legal muscle to make the scheme work.
This unique approach – three lines of copyrighted haiku inserted into an e-mail header – was why a company called Habeas garnered wide press attention over the past couple of years in an anti-spam market that’s more crammed with indistinguishable dreamers than an “American Idol” tryout.
Gimmicks usually go away, however, and such is the case here with the haiku. What’s truly surprising, though, is that Habeas hasn’t gone away with it . . . and doesn’t appear headed anywhere but up anytime soon. Last week the company announced a breakthrough deal with Microsoft that will see the biggest name in IT adopting Habeas’ revamped SafeList technology to help it address the deluge of spam coursing through its Hotmail and MSN platforms.
Outstanding news for Habeas, but what happened to the haiku?
“Haiku is a goner, it’s really gone,” says Habeas spokesman Tim Cox. “We’ve purged it from the lexicon of Habeas.”
Habeas purged it from its Web site, too, as nary a line of poetry nor mention of the word haiku can be found there today, a rather stunning turn for a company that made its name solely on the novelty of the approach. For those who don’t recall, the idea behind the haiku was that poetry – unlike names, titles, slogans and phrases – can be protected by copyright law. Habeas sought to create a service whereby licensed senders would use an e-mail header that included the company’s haiku.
ISPs could be confident that e-mail carrying it was legitimate, and anyone using it without permission could be dragged into court.
It made enough sense to get the company funded and attract lots of curious reporters.
Trouble is the system just didn’t work as envisioned.
“The haiku wasn’t really adding any value because the company is not really going to be in the business of pursuing miscreant senders who have transgressed the copyright,” Cox says. “It was easily forged and people did forge it. At one point in time, it became an indicator that an e-mail probably was spam.”
While a handful of test cases were filed, the problem of enforcement bandwidth did materialize.
“The company really doesn’t have the wherewithal to go after these spammers,” Cox says. “Let Microsoft, the ISPs and the Federal Trade Commission do that. They’ve got the lawyers and the budget.”
New management at the top of the company decided to quietly abandon the copyright-based strategy in favor of developing a broader range of products and services designed to help legitimate senders and receivers.
“The goal now is first to be known as the predominant e-mail accreditation agency and secondly to become known as an independent mediator between senders and receivers,” Cox says.
The SafeList technology being adopted by Microsoft heads the strategy.
“To get on the SafeList, you, the sender, need to jump through a ton of hoops. You need to be certified by Habeas as an accredited sender,” Cox says. “They look very carefully at your reputation on the Internet and your sending practices. They look to see how you’ve got your server set up in terms of open relays. They check that you’re implementing authentication properly on outboard stuff. At the end of the whole deal you get the Habeas stamp on your forehead: You’re a good sender.”
And you won’t have to recite any poetry to prove it.
Questions and comments – in haiku, if you prefer – should be addressed to buzz@nww.com.
