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Yahoo, AOL to charge some e-mail senders
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-06 15:22
Two of the world's biggest e-mail account providers, Yahoo Inc. and America
Online, plan to introduce a service that would charge senders a fee to route
their e-mail directly to a user's mailbox without first passing through junk
mail filters, representatives of both companies said Sunday.
Companies reportedly will soon have to buy the electronic
equivalent of a postage stamp if they want to be certain that their e-mail
will be delivered to many of their customers.[AFP
Illustration] |
The fees, which would range from 1/4 cent to 1 cent per
e-mail, are the latest attempts by the companies to weed out unsolicited ads,
commonly called spam, and identity-theft scams. In exchange for paying, e-mail
senders will be guaranteed their messages won't be filtered and will bear a seal
alerting recipients they're legitimate.
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, making life difficult for businesses that rely on e-mail.
"We were hearing not only from members but also e-mail partners that they
wanted a different way of delivering e-mail that would stand out in the inbox
and would guarantee them delivery," said spokesman Nicholas Graham, adding that
AOL, a division of New York-based Time Warner Inc., will start offering the
service in the next two months.
Company spokeswoman Karen Mahon said Sunday Sunnyvale-based Yahoo will begin
offering a similar service in the coming months.
The plan, while it's optional and would apply to only a fraction of people
sending e-mail, amounts to a reversal in the economics of the Internet because
it would charge message senders rather than those receiving them. The current
model has led to the proliferation of spam and so-called phishing scams because
the people perpetuating them can turn a profit even when only a minority of
recipients respond, analysts have said.
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.
The companies also would receive reports showing how many e-mails were
received successfully. The American Red Cross, the New York Times Co. and credit
report company Experian have signed up with Goodmail to use the service, Graham
said. AOL and Yahoo would get a cut of the fees charged by Goodmail.
Companies that don't want to pay a fee will be able to send e-mail to Yahoo
and AOL members exactly as they have in the past, Graham and Mahon
said.
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