In another article you said that you're a normal POP3 user like me, and in that case BATV or similar ideas cannot help you. In essence it works like this: When you send MAIL FROM: via your smart host at isp.example, this MTA modifies the local part "you" adding a timestamp and other magic. Then it forwards MAIL FROM: to the MX of the recipient. It does not touch your mail (2822-From, Sender, Reply-To, etc.), it only modifies the SMTP MAIL FROM. If the recipient bounces your mail (over quota and other problems) it's MAIL FROM:<> RCPT TO:. The MX of your isp.example sees MAIL FROM:<>, and therefore it knows that this is a bounce. It also sees the magic RCPT TO, and therefore it knows that this is a valid bounce. It replaces "you" for "magic+you+timestamp" and puts it in your POP3 mailox. OTOH if the MX of your isp.example sees a bounce to "you" instead of "magic+you+timestamp" it knows that this is not what you sent and rejects it. That's the theory as far as I understand it, but as you see it requires a coordinated effort of your smart host (sending) and the corresponding MXs (receiving). OTOH it's all under your control (in theory), it doesn't depend on the good will of third parties. The BATV draft expired in March and apparently the author dropped this idea: http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-levine-mass-batv-01.txt If you're fast you find the old -00 draft in my collection - now that I've seen that it's apparently obsolete I'll delete it soon. Bye, Frank