MySpace and CertifiedEmail

For those of you that have an AOL, Comcast, Road Runner, Telus or Verizon account you may have noticed a little blue ribbon envelope next to your email messages and wondered what it was and what it meant. We've developed this page to provide further education on the product and provide you with an outlet to tell us what you think! We're listening! CertifiedEmail™ is a class of email used by accredited commercial, non-profit and government senders to provide an easy and reliable way for you to identify authentic email messages from them. Unlike regular email, which virtually anyone can send – and which virtually anyone can fake – CertifiedEmail is available only to companies, non-profits or governmental agencies that meet a strict set of criteria defined by leading ISP’s and legal regulations and managed by Goodmail.

Protecting your inbox from fraud and spam.

Online security is very important to MySpace, so with the launch of MySpace Mail, we felt it was critical to do everything we could to protect our users from online fraud and spam.  To do this, we’ve incorporated the CertifiedEmail service into MySpace Mail. CertifiedEmail is above and beyond the regular protection mechanisms we have in place like anti-virus.

The CertifiedEmail service is completely free, and is already enabled in your account!  When you receive an email message into your mailbox, you’ll see the CertifiedEmail blue-ribbon Envelope  next the message in your inbox. This lets you know immediately that the message is safe; was sent by whom it claims to be from and that the sender doesn’t send spam.

When reading your email, you’ll also see a special security strip at the top of the message letting you know this message is safe and where to go for more information about the sender.  The security strip also has the CertifiedEmail blue-ribbon envelope and the verified name of the sender.

Frequently Asked Questions about MySpace and CertifiedEmail.

• Can anyone send CertifiedEmail?
  No, only businesses who go above and beyond for their customers can qualify to send CertifiedEmail.  The email sender can’t send unsolicited email (spam) and you have to opt-in to receive their messages.
  
  
• Does CertifiedEmail cost anything?
  CertifiedEmail is free for the person receiving the email.  Businesses have to qualify to send CertifiedEmail messages and this process is handled by MySpace's partner, Goodmail, creator of CertifiedEmail who handles the accreditation of businesses.
  
  
• How does the CertifiedEmail service validate the email message?
  When the message is sent, the CertifiedEmail system “stamps” each message with a token (an encrypted bit of data) that is unique to that message.  This ensures that the message is from whom it says it’s from, and that the message hasn’t been changed or tampered with because each business has their own CertifiedEmail stamp.  Each CertifiedEmail message is valid to one and only one recipient from the particular sender. When the message is received at MySpace, special CertifiedEmail software checks the message’s CertifiedEmail token and verifies the message is intact.
  
  
• Can someone forge a CertifiedEmail message?
  No, because the CertifiedEmail blue-ribbon envelope and security strip live outside of the message itself in an area controlled by MySpace.  If someone makes their message content look certified (with a fake security strip), the message will be missing the real blue-ribbon envelope in the message list as well as the real MySpace security strip in the header.  Additionally, only verified and true CertifiedEmail messages will have the images turned on automatically. If a message isn’t a real CertifiedEmail message, the images won’t be on when you open the message.