Dear AOL…Stop!

March 1st, 2006 | Filed under Blog, Politics, Technology

Chris Pirillo, of Lockergnome fame, has re-posted an open letter to AOL, asking them to rethink their proposed fee for groups who send a lot of emails. The idea being that this would help curtail spam because they (the spammers) would now be forced to pay a fee for each email sent. I’m not a really a big fan of this idea and I’ve signed the petition myself. Here is a quick excerpt from the final paragraph of the letter:

We have always been happy working together with you to fight spam and phishing. We have a common enemy in spammers. We are happy to work together to develop open approaches that attack the problem of spam and phishing. But a pay-to-send “certified” system does not help to fight spam. It only serves to make the Internet less free for everyone. We stand together in asking you to reconsider your decision to use CertifiedEmail.

The main reason I am against this sort of “two-tiered” Internet idea is two fold. One, that non-for-profits and other small groups would be forced to pay up to reach AOL email accounts or involuntarily keep their numbers small. Secondly, I don’t like the plan as it sets a really disturbing precedent for openness on the net. I’ve already posted about how the ISPs want to charge a premium to sites like Amazon, EBay and Google called prioritization where the above companies would be forced to pay the ISP or have their site load slower.

That is a terrible idea because no company is going to purposefully slow down their site for users and will be forced to pay up in the end. This proposed “CertifiedEmail” plan would only add fuel to the ISPs fire. Here is to hoping that AOL makes the right call, both for the future of the Internet, and the ethical idea that they should not attempt to stifle the flow of information.

Sign the letter here.

Update: The NYTimes is reporting that Senator Ron Wyden, from Oregon, is proposing legislation today that will make it illegal for ISPs, including the baby bells and cable companies, to charge “companies for faster delivery of their content to consumers or favoring some content providers over others.” While this doesn’t directly address the AOL email problem, it is a good first step in terms of keeping the Internet open and unrestricted.

Via: Slashdot