Opposition to AOL's 'Email Tax' Growing

An anonymous reader writes "The Register is reporting that opposition to AOL's proposed 'Email Tax' that would create a two tier email filtering system is growing. DearAOL.com, representing such organisations as the EFF and Craigslist, has written an open letter to AOL asking them to reconsider. "

Comments

Re:Certified Spam

[Billosaur]

So this wouldn't stop spam, it would just help AOL profit off of it. Companies that do spam will be weighing out their average gains against the cost of sending mass emails, and I'm sure many will decide it's worth it. I'm sure they would be thrilled to know that their emails can bypass spam filters for a few dollars. Meanwhile, charity groups, e-zines, and other legitimate free mailing lists that people sign up for will be screwed. It looks to me that AOL is taking the "if you can't beat them, join them" approach.

Other than a public relations nightmare (maybe AOL should talk to Sony!), the bottom line of this is that as an AOL user, you are no longer offered any choice. You have Spam-blocking software which will be effective at blocking low-grade spam from the weekend spammers, but won't stop the power spammers one iota.

AOL has been trying for years to kill itself. It may finally succeed.

AOL's profit motive will fail

[erroneus]

This is all about AOL attempting to profit more from their subscriber base. When people start to wake up to the fact that they are paying AOL only to be exploited by AOL, they will probably reconsider their subscription... I know I would.

Re:Who Cares?

[voice_of_all_reason]

I read your comment as "This will further isolate AOL's 2 users"