AOL Won't Budge on Email Tax

deman1985 writes "InformationWeek reports that AOL has no intentions to budge on its use of certified email. The company today released a statement apparently in response to the vast amounts of criticism over the past week from consumers and various organizations. From the article: 'We believe more choices, and more alternatives, for safety and e-mail authentication is a good thing for the Internet, not bad,' said an AOL spokesman. 'Everything that AOL has in place today free for e-mail senders remains -- and will only improve.' The programs critics aren't so optimistic, but that doesn't seem to be hampering the company's plans. In a quote that could only be labeled short and sweet, AOL announced, 'Implementation of this timely and necessary safety and security measure for our members takes place in the next 30 days. Mark it on your calendars.'"

Comments

Strange kind of tax.

[Errandboy of Doom]

This is just an optional feature no one will use, not a tax.

a) Free mail will still get through to AOL users.
b) AOL users can still whitelist and blacklist senders, even certified senders.

So certified mail allows senders to pay for what privilege, again?

There's nothing to buy, there's no added value, this program will be DOA.

But it's just a stupid business idea, AOL doesn't have any authority to challenge the sanctity of email, no matter what some critics would have you believe.