A system and computer-based method are disclosed for use in mining data
from communications filtering requests. The system and method accept from
a delivery point a filtering request, which includes an identification of
a sender from which the delivery point does not wish to accept
communications. Data from the filtering request is stored in a database
and information from the database is provided to a requester. The system
and method may receive a communication, determine from the communication
its source and its delivery point, access the database to determine if the
determined delivery point wishes to accept communications from the
determined source and, if it does, deliver the communication to the
delivery point. Otherwise, the system and method discard the
communication. In the case of traditional mail, the system and method may
determine the source and delivery point from one or more bar codes.