If regular filters can’t stop spam from taking over your inbox, computer science graduate student David Erickson has got your back with Default Off Email (DOEmail), which Erickson developed in tandem with Associate Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Nick McKeown.

DOEmail is a free anti-spam tool that is similar to a buddy list for instant messengers and allows users to broadly categorize received mail. There are three basic groups: a list for people you want mail from, a list for people you don’t want mail from and the unknown for all uncategorized addresses.

Emails received and classified under “unknown” generate an auto-response from DOEmail — a form is sent back to the sender in order to verify that the sender is human. The sender then has three weeks to respond.

According to Erickson, DOEmail can help users regain control of their inboxes.

“Spam is a serious problem — 74 to 95 percent of email received is spam, and DOEmail is a simple solution that gives a lot of power to the user,” he said. DOEmail includes options that allow users to micromanage their spam control or to merely set broad filters and let the program do the rest.

According to Erickson, who completed his undergraduate education at the University of Utah, these options set DOEmail apart from other systems.

When asked to compare other anti-spam tools like content filtering with his project, Erickson responded that these programs “aren’t as effective” and that DOEmail is “more user-friendly.” DOEmail has a plug-in for Mozilla Thunderbird and is accessible to anyone who wants to use it.

The research project seems successful so far — a number of faculty, staff, students and people off-campus have been trying out DOEmail and have not received any spam. The project currently has 35 users; however, since Erickson and McKeown are also hoping to produce an academic paper on the project, they need about 200 total users in order to make a credible assessment.

In an effort to gain support from the community, they are also considering giving away two iPhones or iPod Touches in a contest to promote their project. A user must use DOEmail for 30 days in order to be eligible to win. Another way to win is to be one of the first two people to sign up 30 other friends (as long as those friends also stay active for 30 days). This promotion lasts until Mar. 1.

To learn more about DOEmail, visit www.doemail.org.