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From: bobbie sellers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Team Amiga ML <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sat, 04 Feb 2006 18:27:46 -0700
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Subject: [TAML] AOL tax on e-mail
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I am copying from another email group to get the sense of
the group since this topic seems to be neglected.
==========================================================
AOL®'s New Email Certification Program:
Good Mail or "Goodfellas"?
L-Soft's Eric Thomas, Inventor of LISTSERV®, the Original
Email List Management Software, Says Decision Threatens to
Shake the Foundations of Internet Communication
Bethesda, MD (February 2, 2006) -- AOL®'s recent
decision to require payment of "a fraction of a cent per message"
to ensure delivery of email messages with images and links to
AOL mailboxes threatens to cut off Internet communication at its
very roots, potentially spelling the end of an era of near-free
mass communication and making good email marketing practices
obsolete. This as-yet unspecified fee is to be paid to email
certification company Goodmail SystemsTM. Founded in 2003,
Goodmail, according to its Website, "provides a new class of
e-mail that identifies good mail ... so the messages can be
delivered to recipients' inboxes -- not junk or bulk
folders." Until June 2006, senders that are unwilling or unable to
pay the per-message fee will be able to continue to use AOL's
Enhanced Whitelist service. After that, it's time to pay
(Goodmail), or face a future of relegation to the junk folders of
millions of AOL mailboxes. To accelerate the migration to
Goodmail, AOL will begin reducing the number of Enhanced
Whitelist participants in April.
AOL's implementation of Goodmail's CertifiedEmailTM service,
announced January 30th, was greeted with sharp criticism from
email service providers and marketing experts. L-Soft, the
company behind LISTSERV®, the product that launched the
email list management industry 20 years ago, is one of the few
potential beneficiaries of AOL's move, since its customers
would have no options but to purchase the necessary software
upgrade to support Goodmail certification, an upgrade that
L-Soft could choose to license on very profitable terms. Yet
there are no sounds of champagne glasses clinking to be heard in
L-Soft's boardroom.
"When I read about the AOL-Goodmail deal, I first thought it
must be a hoax," says L-Soft CEO and founder Eric Thomas, who
invented LISTSERV in 1986. "I know a lot of good people at
AOL, people I admire for their patience and professionalism in
dealing with the spam plague, on which AOL spends more time,
energy and money than anyone else. I just cannot imagine them as
the cast of the IT industry's version of "Goodfellas," selling
senders protection against a destiny of junk folders for 'a fraction
of a cent per message'. Somehow, something has gone terribly
wrong."
"The fundamental flaw in AOL's new certification plan is that
there is only one technology supplier. Coupled with AOL's
dominance in the marketplace, this creates a de facto monopoly.
Once the system is in place, nothing would prevent Goodmail
from raising prices to increase profits. Higher certification
prices would lead to lower email volumes and reduced
operational costs for AOL, so they would be unlikely to
complain about any such increases."
Goodmail Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder Richard Gingras was
noted to say that Goodmail expects that its charter program will
provide significant discounts to senders through 2006.1
"This could be seen as just another way of saying that Goodmail
is already planning to raise prices in 2007. And price is not the
only concern. As the sole provider, Goodmail would also be in a
position to censor senders, with or without reason. Thus, nobody
would dare to criticize Goodmail or complain about price
increases," Thomas says. "At the press of a button, Goodmail
could put companies out of business by blocking their access to
AOL. People would have no option but to pay up -- and
keep their voices down."
With only one supplier, only one pricing model is being offered
-- in this case, a per-message fee that should deliver a
steady growth rate to Goodmail as the Internet grows. Other
Internet necessities, such as domain names and SSL certificates,
are typically priced at a flat fee, allowing people and
organizations at most income levels to establish a substantial
online presence.
"If VeriSign® started charging for Web certificates by the click,
people would be crying foul, and VeriSign does not even have a
monopoly," Thomas says. "A per-message fee will eliminate
non-commercial email traffic, such as the hundreds of thousands
of discussion lists that serve as online communities for millions
of people -- for example, lists connecting people who are
struggling with cancer, coping with parenting special-needs
children, or simply wishing to exchange tips about their favorite
breed of dog. You end up with a situation where, if your
non-commercial newsletter is successful, it is driven out of
business by the Goodmail fee, and you have to turn it into a
commercial venture just to survive. In order to be acceptable to
the community, the certification process must be available for a
reasonable fixed fee and from a choice of several certification
providers."
Discussion communities such as the award-winning international
Association for Cancer Online Resources (ACOR) are also
speaking out. "In essence, this is going to block every AOL
subscriber suffering from any form of cancer from receiving
potentially life-saving information they may not be able to get
from any other source, simply because a non-profit like ACOR
-- which serves more than 55,000 cancer patients and
caregivers every day -- cannot afford to pay the fee. There
must be a better solution," says Gilles Frydman, ACOR's
President.
Thomas concludes, "While I have the deepest sympathy and
understanding for the situation AOL is in, the introduction of the
Internet's first email tax ever is simply not the right solution to
the spam problem."
About L-Soft
L-Soft, which was incorporated in 1994, is the company behind
LISTSERV®, offering email list and opt-in email marketing
software and hosting services for managing email newsletters,
discussion groups and marketing campaigns. L-Soft's products
deliver about 30 million messages a day to more than 110
million list subscriptions. L-Soft celebrates the 20th
anniversary of LISTSERV® in 2006
For more information visit www.lsoft.com or contact L-Soft via
email at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or call +1-800-399-5449 or +1 (301)
731-0440.
L-SOFT PRESS CONTACT
Susan Brown Faghani
1-800-399-5449
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
1 ClickZ article by Kevin Newcomb, "AOL to Implement E-mail
Certification Program". January 30, 2006.
http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3581301
AOL® is a registered trademark of America Online®.
CertifiedEmailTM is a trademark of Goodmail SystemsTM.
VeriSign® is a registered trademark of VeriSign®, Inc.
LISTSERV is a registered trademark licensed to L-Soft
international, Inc.
All other trademarks, both marked and not marked, are the
property of their respective owners.
that is the beginning of the story gang.
It seems as though the not for profit e-mail
lists are going to be frozen out if AOL goes forward
with this tariff.
==========================================================
later
bliss
--
bobbie sellers - (Back to Angband) Team *AMIGA*
bliss at california dot com
Siler Commission, Panama Canal Zone Report, 1930 - Reported
that cannabis use was harmless, and, having subjected to medico-
scientific clinical monitoring, heavy cannabis smoking produced
no effect upon motivation or performance.
