Puneite bags MIT award with mobile anti-spam technology

Updated on: Thursday, March 17, 2011

City-based engineer Sagar Bedmutha is among 18 Indians awarded by MIT’s ‘Technology Review’ magazine for his innovation in blocking spam SMSes. Bedmutha’s technology is being used by over one lakh people across 110 countries since it was launched in last July.

Bedmutha has also qualified for the ‘global innovators competition’ conducted by the MIT. One interesting feature of the application, which makes it more effective for Indian users, is that it identifies the widely spoken Hinglish language (English infused with regular Hindi words).

This anti-spamming application comprises almost 6, 000 different pre-defined spam cases created out of numerous permutations and combinations. Every message that comes from an unknown source is analysed against all predefined cases.

Based on the result, the application transfers identified spam messages into a separate folder. In certain cases, if the algorithm remains undecided on whether a message is a spam or not, it pops up a snapshot of the message for the user to view and make the decision. “There were several challenges while developing this application. Unlike email, there is no filter in mobile phones. The message goes directly to the mobile. Some mobiles do have spam blocking applications but the user has to manually keep adding senders they wish to block, into a list. But the new trend shows that spammers outdo these blockers by constantly changing their numbers and the sender titles. Many users find it easier to just delete such messages than to add them to a list” Bedmutha said.

He has done his engineering from the Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University in Raigad. The innovation was awarded after clearing several parameters set by the selection committee, like challenging aspects in the innovation, utility, benefits, reach and how different is it from the current market trends. Bedmutha has studied over 3, 000 patterns of promotion and other types of SMSes.

Puneite bags MIT award with mobile anti-spam technology

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