Now, Electronic Postage Stamps For e-email

Controversy
time-preferential treatment for stamped email. America Online and Yahoo, two
of the world's largest providers of e-mail accounts, are about to start using
a system that gives special treatment to messages from companies that pay from
1/4 of a cent to a penny each to have them delivered.

AOL and Yahoo said the
program, which is being offered through a company called Goodmail Systems will
target banks, online retailers, and other groups that send large amounts of
e-mail. In exchange for a payment and a pledge to contact only people who have
agreed to receive their messages, the companies would be ensured their e-mails
aren't diverted to spam folders or have images or Web addresses filtered out.

Both companies have
long filtered e-mail by searching for keywords commonly contained in spam and
fraudulent e-mail. AOL also strips images and Web links from many messages to
prevent the display of pornographic pictures and malicious Web addresses. Both
practices sometimes falsely identify legitimate messages as junk mail.

However, critics of the
plan say that the companies risk alienating both their users and the companies
that send e-mail. The system will apply not only to mass mailings, but also to
individual messages like order confirmations from online stores and customized
low-fare notices from airlines. “AOL users will become dissatisfied when they
don't receive the e-mail that they want, and when they complain to the
senders, they'll be told, 'it's AOL's fault,' said Richi Jennings, an
analyst at Ferris Research, which specializes in e-mail. As for companies that
send e-mail, “some will pay, but others will object to being held to
ransom,” he said. “A big danger is that one of them will be big enough to
encourage AOL users to use a different e-mail service.”

Source-The
New York Times

Jasmine Kaur

jasminek@cybermedia.co.in