News
 Sending
Email Might Require Placing Postage Stamp
Email and postage – those two words placed together
would make anyone shudder. Imagine having to buy a
postage stamp to send off an email? It’s entirely
possible.
The New York Times recently reported that companies
might have to buy the electronic equivalent of a
postage stamp to make sure their email will be
delivered to their targeted customers. According to
the article, America Online and Yahoo, are about to
jump-start a system that gives preferential
treatment to messages from firms that pay from ¼ of
a cent to a penny each to have them delivered. Think
“certified” mail.
The senders must make a pact saying they’d only
email those who have agreed to receive their
messages, or risk being blocked entirely. The goal
is to basically dumb down spam and enable Internet
companies to better identify legitimate mail and
identity-theft scams.
If the postage-for-email program is implemented, it
stands to rake in millions of dollars a year for
Internet firms.
According to the article, AOL and Yahoo will still
accept email from senders who haven’t paid, but the
paid messages will get the VIP treatment. For
example, paid email will go straight to users’ main
mailboxes and will not have to pass a myriad of spam
filters that could divert it to the dreaded junk
mail folder, where it usually strips the email of
its images and Web links. Then again, email that
users have identified in their address books will
not be treated as spam.
Of course, there are opponents to this possible new
system of sending out email. Some email pundits say
the Internet companies will alienate its users and
create a preferred class of email that will change
the face of the Internet, the article states.
Sending out email has always been a free exchange.
At any rate, published reports have stated that AOL
will start accepting email processed by Goodmail
Systems in the next two months. Goodmail will
collect the electronic postage and verify the
identity of the sender. Those who have paid the
postage toll will have their email sent straight
into the main in-boxes of their intended recipient.
Other published reports state that Yahoo will try
out Goodmail’s system in the coming months, but they
haven’t decided how paid mail will be differentiated
from unpaid.
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