It's official, you can now pay AOL to avoid their spam filters or take your chances

[jason - jmh web services]

I am not surprised that the postmasters of AOL tell you that it isn't a big deal.

Those were actually my words. They went into much more detail. And it wasn't just AOL saying this. There are other avenues other then paying AOL/goodmail.

But when you consider that normal -non-certified mail- to AOL users will be rewritten by AOL (links to external websites will be deleted/rewritten), then a real problem exists. This is particularly troubling considering that AOL is both an ISP AND a content provider.

Where did you read that this will happen? Or are you saying it happens now?

If AOL had any serious interest to reduce spam, they could simply recommend that mailers use digital IDs to authenticate themselves. The technology exists for years and is pretty reliable. So why don't they do it?

Markus

? They do. I already went through their whitelisting process and passed. This is not new. I just didn't have a dedicated ip until now.

Jason

[mvmarkus]

I recently attended the Email Marketing Summit in Chicago where there was a panel with thee postmaster of AOL, ceo of Goodmail, Habeas, etc. It isn't that big a deal as people have been making it out to be. This is just another option. If your list is large enough, I would just go with Habeas certification.

I am not surprised that the postmasters of AOL tell you that it isn't a big deal. But when you consider that normal -non-certified mail- to AOL users will be rewritten by AOL (links to external websites will be deleted/rewritten), then a real problem exists. This is particularly troubling considering that AOL is both an ISP AND a content provider.

Under normal conditions, I wouldn't care a bit - I don't use AOL. But when running ecommerce operations, we can't ignore this anymore. Suddenly even order notifications, client communications or newsletters may get rewritten by the man in the middle. Sorry, nobody has the right to mess with my email - but that is exactly what I risk if I don't subscribe to their service.

The most fundamental principle of the Internet is that the network remains neutral and free. However, with the market power of AOL Goodwill has finally found the magic key to add a stamp on email; something that countless companies (and governments) have dreamed of before but never succeeded.

If AOL had any serious interest to reduce spam, they could simply recommend that mailers use digital IDs to authenticate themselves. The technology exists for years and is pretty reliable. So why don't they do it?

Markus

[jason - jmh web services]

I recently attended the Email Marketing Summit in Chicago where there was a panel with thee postmaster of AOL, ceo of Goodmail, Habeas, etc. It isn't that big a deal as people have been making it out to be. This is just another option. If your list is large enough, I would just go with Habeas certification.

[ILoveHostasaurus]

Just forwarding some info...

==============

As you may have seen in the press, many groups, including my own, have expressed concern with plans by AOL and Yahoo to charge payment from third-party senders to reach their customers' inboxes. I'm writing in the hope that you will be one of our list of ISPs and mailbox providers who publicly commit not to follow the same path - and who we highlight to consumers and the media as one of the good actors in the industry.

We've asked AOL to re-consider their plans at http://www.dearaol.com/ .
That open letter has been joined by six hundred organizations, representing over 15 million members, including individuals like Craig Newmark from Craig's List and organizations like the Service Roundtable, CSPR, the AFL-CIO, Gun Owners of America, MoveOn.org, EFF, and Oxfam America. Members of the coalition have gathered over 350,000 signatories in support.

As part of this campaign, we're collecting names of ISPs and mailbox providers who are committed to delivering their customers' email without charging the sender. We'll be publicizing these ISPs to coalition members and to the press as companies that do the right thing.

To that end, would your company consider agreeing to the language below?

"We will not accept payment to bypass our anti-spam filters, nor
charge senders to reach our users."

Note that this wording neither excludes the possibility of adopting certification or authentication systems (all of the current certification systems such as Bonded Sender and Habeas would be acceptable, as would Goodmail under a different contractual arrangement than the current agreement with AOL).

We've already had sign-on on these principles from Google's GMail, and we'd be delighted to include you in the growing list of companies we'll be publicizing.

Let me know if you'd be interested in signing on. If you have any questions, you can contact the organizer of this campaign, Danny O'Brien, at [email protected], or call him on +1 408 480 3412.

PS - Here's an editorial and a couple of articles that have been written about this issue so far:

Google will not follow AOL so no payment system planned for Gmail http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/
wpn-60-20060420NoGoodmailForGmail.html

Paid e-mail will lead to separate, unequal systems http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...n/14023726.htm

Diverse Groups Team Up to Fight E-Mail Fee (AP)
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/print?id=1668695

Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>