As part of an increased effort to slow the flood of spam e-mail, Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) will begin rejecting even more incoming messages in the new year. CIT has been running Sophos PureMessage, a spam-identifying system, in full production for more than two years. PureMessage assigns a spam-probability score to each incoming message, based on a complex set of rules. As of Jan. 15, any message rated 80 percent or higher will be rejected, and you will never see it. This will reduce Cornell's e-mail traffic by more than 500,000 messages every day.

Real messages coming through Cornell with false-positive ratings at the 80-percent level are rare, but CIT will ensure that the sender of an e-mail with a false-positive rating has the best possible chance of knowing the message was not received, why that happened and what to do about it. The sender will get a message saying the e-mail bounced.

CIT will add # signs in the subject line for mail that has a spam-probability score between 80 and 55 percent.

If you prefer to receive e-mail with all spam included, CIT has created a way to opt out of the spam curtailment process. Anyone who opts out will continue to receive all messages, just as they do today.

To change your opt-out status:

• Go to http://whoiam.cornell.edu/;
• Click on the "Electronic Mail" link;
• Scroll down to "Spam Blocking";
• Check the box to opt out, or clear the check to opt back in;
• Remember to click the "Set it!" button at the bottom of the page.

You can opt in or opt out at any time, and changes will be updated every night.

If you receive your mail through a departmental address (like somebody@astro.cornell.edu), see CIT Web pages for details on how you will be affected.

For more information, visit http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/email/puremessage/curtailment.html. For assistance with opting out, call the CIT Contact Center (HelpDesk) at (607) 255-8990 or send e-mail to helpdesk@cornell.edu.

Leslie Intemann is a technical communicator with Cornell Information Technologies.