Is paying for each email a good idea? |
| Posted by: Whidden | |
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Looking For Mr. Goodmail
John Stith | Staff Writer
2006-02-06
Spam continues to be a major problem for the Internet world. People all over the world receive millions of email everyday and the vast majority of it is absolutely worthless. A new company called Goodmail aims to help slow down that spam. With big time players like Yahoo and AOL coming on board, it seems a likely success. The problem is that in order to get the spam control, people will lose some things too.
Will Goodmail help reduce spam?
It seems the age of the electronic postage stamp has arrived. At least that's what Goodmail is hoping will be the case. They've created a system they claim will help reduce junk email and spam, phishing scams and lots of other problems running rampant.
The way the system works companies like Yahoo, AOL and whoever else opts to go with this system will require companies sending out emails to pay one cent per email in addition to promising to contact only people who've chosen to receive the emails. For senders who choose not to pay, their messages still go through but must go through spam filters. The ones who pay, however, will get preferential treatment.
While stopping spam and phishing scams are important, there are certainly holes in this plan. First is the retail side of things. One big question comes in the form of retailer-oriented emails. Granted, some are spam. Others however are not. Take Amazon.com for example. They send a lot of emails. Things like order confirmations and product suggestions may become a thing of the past.
What about familial newsletters with photos in them? Are they subject to these postage rules as well. Then there's the whole argument newsletter people receive. Some may be strictly text based but others that rely on advertising will have problem. While I'm not advocate of spam and find it repugnant, how does Goodmail propose to tell the difference?
AOL and Yahoo are framing this as something similar to the U.S. postal service with something like certified emails. Nicholas Graham, an AOL spokesman told the New York Times (NYT), "The last time I checked, the postal service has a very similar system to provide different options. Where you really do get assurance that if what you send is important to you, it will be delivered, and delivered in a way that is different from other mail?"
As the NYT article also pointed out, these companies risk alienating many of their users. When various emails or other notifications sent to the customers because the retailers or even public utility didn't pay the fee, some customers will get irritated and the business involved will blame AOL or Yahoo.
The other side of this is the potential for fraud. It would be easy enough for a company who had the budget to simply pay the fees and keep right on spamming, at least for a while. It would also seem easy enough to go other email providers and bounce it through their channels instead wouldn't it? How watchful are AOL, Yahoo and Goodmail going to be about companies that pay their fees?
Ted Richardson commented on his blog, "Daily, we see major corporations and financial institutions being spoofed on the Internet. Add in some spam and people become victims of phishing, which leads to identities and financial information being stolen. If criminals are able to use this new service to their advantage, who will suffer from this?"
It's not a bad thing to want to stop spam and phishing scams. I'm all for it. But how much are online companies going to be penalized for this new Goodmail plan. Regardless of the outcome, it will be interesting to watch as some large Internet retailers and other companies square off over this. |
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| Posted by: Whidden | | I wonder what a system like that would do to message boards like Inreview?
And smaller message boards, with just a few members, that send out emails on a regular basis. | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: Lawless | | I wouldn't be happy with paying for e mail. After all, I'm already paying to have use of the internet. I think that it would cause people to set up private forums, on message boards, and leave messages for each other. | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: fuscia | | I voted no. I am cheap about stuff like that. Maybe the answer is to charge for mass emails. * shrugs | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: Lawless | | They SHOULD charge for people who are sending out bulk... spam crap!! | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: Shadow Stalker | | no, i'd really rather not spend money to send an email. maybe its just me, but i don't think people would like spending money every time they sent one out, no matter the risks other wise. but who knows, i could be wrong. | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: gaboman | | I voted I Dunno.
One the one hand, even if its like 0.1 cent per email, it'll help stop spam
But on the other hand, I don't want to pay for email. | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: Whidden | | what about message boards like Inreview? Can you imagine the bill for the thousand plus emails this place sends out each day?
That would be 10 dollars a day. I think. I'm bad with math. | | Reply To this Message
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