Here’s an interesting article about email authentication over at NetworkWorld: Will Yahoo block messages that aren’t signed?

For years, ISPs have been a little vague about how they’re going to handle authentication. Will it be used to block email? Does every legit email marketer need to authenticate their messages? Do ESPs need to offer it to all our clients?

Network World Senior Editor Carolyn Duffy Marsan interviewed Mark Risher, anti-abuse product manager for Yahoo Mail, and asked some blunt questions, like:

1. What benefits does DKIM provide?
2. A year from now, will you be stopping a lot of mail at the front gate because of DKIM?
3. Will you send non-authenticated email through more filtering?

Risher also shared the following:“We have seen aggressive uptake of DomainKeys. More than 40% of our inbound traffic to Yahoo Mail is using DomainKeys. That’s more than 1 billion messages a day with the open source version. DKIM is its successor. …Within 18 months, all of the top financial institutions will use DKIM.”

FYI, MailChimp offers both DKIM and Domain Keys (along with SPF and SenderID) for free. Just check a box, and bam—you’re authenticated.