Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, Verizon Support CertifiedEmail from Goodmail

TMCnet Contributing Editor

Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable's Road Runner and Verizon (News - Alert) are reportedly supporting Goodmail Systems’ CertifiedEmail trusted class email for users of their email services.

AOL and Yahoo! are already using CertifiedEmail, which is trusted-class delivery option offered to qualifying, legitimate commercial and non-profit emailers for messages to existing customers and users who have specifically opted in to receive such communications.

These senders' email messages are accredited by Goodmail and delivered with cryptographically secure tokens which participating ISPs detect. Since CertifiedEmail messages are labeled with a unique blue ribbon icon in the email program, consumers can immediately distinguish the legitimate messages they want to receive from messages of unknown authenticity or safety.

“With spam and phishing hitting historic highs even in the last six months, we have seen the limits of technologies which attempt to filter out the bad email,” said Goodmail co-founder and CEO Richard Gingras in a statement to the press.

He continued: “Consumers want their email system to let them know which email is real and safe to open and act on. They want an end to the frustration of having to guess whether an email is real or not. These ISPs - and the senders that send CertifiedEmail - care about their customers' safety.”

In order to receive CertifiedEmail, users of participating ISPs don’t have to do anything extra. The existing webmail programs currently used by the customers will show a new icon, a blue ribbon envelope, which means a message is a CertifiedEmail. This envelope appears in both the inbox list view and in a special pane above the message when opened.

Mitch Bowling, senior vice president and general manager of Online Services at Comcast (News - Alert) believes CertifiedEmail will be a great addition to the SmartZone communications center that they'll be launching later this year.

According to Dallas Clement, senior vice president of Strategy and Product Management, rolling out the Goodmail service is just another way that they’re providing the innovative tools and resources Internet users need to make the most of their online experience.

“The users of Time Warner (News - Alert) Cable's Road Runner email service need an easy, standard, reliable way to determine message legitimacy,” said Steve Cook, group vice president, High-Speed Online & Road Runner for Time Warner Cable.

“Goodmail's CertifiedEmail provides just that. Our users want us to take the initiative in determining which messages are safe, and this solution enables that,” he added.

Peter Castleton, director of Verizon Consumer Broadband Services added that a certification service, such as CertifiedEmail, enables them to help restore that trust and makes it easier for consumers to identify legitimate email messages.

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Anuradha Shukla is a contributing editor for TMCnet, covering call centers, CRM and information technology. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

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