A rule-based system for end-user e-mail annotations

A new system for spam e-mail annotation by end-users is presented. It is based on the recursive application of hand- written annotation rules by means of an inferential engine based on Logic Programming. Annotation rules allow the user to express nuanced considerations that depend on deob- fuscation, word (non-)occurrence and structure of the message in a straightforward, human-readable syntax. We show that a sample collection of annotation rules are effective on a relevant corpus that we have assembled by collecting emails that have escaped detection by the industry-standard SpamAssassin filter. The system presented here is intended as a personal tool enforcing personalized annotation rules that would not be suitable for the general e-mail traffc.