Caller ID for e-mail

The initiatives announced by Bill Gates during his speech at the RSA security conference this morning included an e-mail function that Microsoft compared to caller ID capabilities in phone systems. The system will essentially match an incoming e-mail's domain name to published IP addresses to thwart the practice known as "spoofing," a common tactic in which spammers hide their identity by forging the "from" addresses on the e-mails they send. Microsoft will try it out first as part of its Hotmail system.

The company made a series of additional security-related announcements as part of Gates' speech this morning, including the formation of an alliance with internet service providers. I'll post a link to a transcript of the speech when it's available.

Update, 1 p.m.: Here's the transcript.