Remember the famous email rumor that made the rounds in the
1990s: "Congress is trying to tax your Internet connection,
write in now!"Well what wasn't true in the 1990s is apparently coming true
in 2006, only the beneficiaries won't be Uncle Sam -- they
will be Yahoo, AOL, and a company ironically called
Goodmail. Yahoo and AOL have announced that they will
guarantee access to your email inbox for email senders who
pay $.0025 per message. They will override their own spam
filters and webbug-strippers, and deliver the mail directly
with a "certified" notice. In the process, it is likely
that they will treat more of your email as spam, and email
you're expecting won't be delivered.
This isn't really an anti-spam measure as much as a "pay to
speak" measure. In fact, it probably won't diminish spam or
phishing at all. Yahoo and AOL are ransoming your email
boxes so that they can shake down ordinary people and
organizations, whether individuals mailing their local
bowling league or political groups communicating with their
national memberships.
Email being basically free isn't a bug. It's a feature that
has driven the digital revolution, allowing groups to scale
up from a dozen friends to a hundred people who love
knitting to half-a-million concerned citizens without a
major bankroll. Spam is a real problem demanding real
solutions, but taxing the Internet isn't one of them.
EFF urges AOL and Yahoo subscribers and those who
communicate with them to tell them that taxing email is not
the right way to go.
(Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged.
Press releases and EFF announcements & articles may be reproduced individually at will.)
legoman786
Feb 11 2006, 10:13 AM
I don't use AOL or Yahoo or Goodmail... so HA!!!
*ahem* sorry... Wow, they really are keeping their word to tax email. I wonder what will happen when ALL the email servers get taxed? A digital revolution? In fact, the US is losing money to the postal service because of emailing. So, this might be a good thing.
boopme
Feb 11 2006, 08:28 PM
It's more like a bribe . Pay me off and I'll let you bring your unwanted stuff in. Perhaps a bit later we may have the option of paying >50 to reblock what we never wanted. Pretzel logic
acklan
Feb 14 2006, 03:27 PM
I have a Gmail, Yahoo, and a hotmail account. I use them as the should be used. Crap mail. If a site requires me to provide an email I give one of them. I clear them out once every couple of weeks. If the site does not accept one of them I has a COX.NET crap mail that is set to delete all emails as they are downloaded. Right now I have several hundred spam mails a week slipping thru on my good email account.
yano
Feb 14 2006, 08:22 PM
I thought e-mail was suppose to be free? Isn't that the point of it?
Avro_1
Mar 9 2006, 02:34 PM
Part of legoman786's comment was
QUOTE
In fact, the US is losing money to the postal service because of emailing. So, this might be a good thing.
Sorry legoman786 but for gods sake don't say stuff like that the Bast***s will do it for real,then what next?
You got to consider this on a much deeper level. Death & taxes ar certanties in this life but not ever,...NEVER on the Internet.
The Internet was developed as a free for the people tool,
let it stay a FREE FOR THE PEOPLE TOOL.[u]
Avro_1 over & out.
jgweed
Mar 9 2006, 06:17 PM
As I understand it, these companies are going to allow certain (supposedly "good") companies bypass their usual spam filters, and charge them for this "benefit." Some charitable groups have objected to this, because they send E-mails to their lists of contributors; at least one of the E-mail providers has kindly said it will "pay for" these select charitable groups.
What bothers me is that the E-mail provider will determine, for a price, what is actually SPAM and what is "good" SPAM, and which groups are to be considered charitable. I always thought the recipient should choose what mail to receive and what E-mail is SPAM.
What also bothers me is that once the large E-mail providers starting charging for some E-mails, they will gradually find a way to charge US for E-mailing. Never let anyone get a foot in the door of internet freedom, or it will change, and change for the worse.
Regards,
John
Scarlett
Mar 9 2006, 06:21 PM
Yes, give them an inch and they'll take a mile.
AL...
Mar 10 2006, 04:29 AM
I already pay for e-mail via isp account fee's as I'm sure most of the rest of you do. You dont like what your isp or mail provider is up to then vote with your feet.
oldcorpsgunny
Mar 22 2006, 01:42 AM
It appears to me that AOL, in contrast to their ads extolling their commitment to their users, are now offering to become purveyors of spam to anyone who has the cash. I hope those states that laws against spam take AOL to court and levy some hefty fines against them if this plan actually gets implemented.
Globe Roamer Jeff
Mar 22 2007, 10:15 AM
Oh what a wonderful ideas this is to pay for sending emails.
Why just think.. the spammers will be charged a few cents by the ISPs to send and the ISPs will receive payment from the spammers by means of a stolen credit card account.
Later... GRJ
Link: