False Positive Penalties

I’ve argued many times on this blog that blocking emails I want (the false positive) is a big problem. I value the email I get and I don’t want anyone blocking legitimate emails that I want to recieve.

Most people in the spam filtering business take the approach that blocking a few legit emails is a small price to pay for protecting everyone from spam.  Well Verizon found out yesterday that that approach can be costly.

In a settlement of a class action lawsuit announced yesterday, Verizon is providing refunds to customers who had their legitimate email blocked by overly agressive spam filters in Verizon’s online service.

Hopefully this will lead to a more balanced view in the spam filtering business.

Thanks to Brad Feld, who forwarded me the link to the Verizon story.