* Feedback from readers opposed to AOL's 'e-mail tax' proposal
My article on AOL’s scheme to charge for e-mail so that e-mail marketers could bypass AOL’s spam filtering technology generated lots of response, most of it opposed to the plan. Here are some selected comments from those opposed – my next newsletter will provide feedback from those who are for the plan (well, at least less opposed to it):
* “There is something emotional about having one’s inbox violated for things they did not ask for. If I were a paying subscriber to AOL, I would protest by moving my business and e-mail account elsewhere. It would be one thing if Yahoo or Google did this on their free accounts…entirely different in my mind for someone I’m paying for a service to ‘double dip’ by also subsidizing that service by enabling people to spam me.”
* “Am I mistaken, or is AOL allowing spammers to pay a fee to bypass their e-mail filtering and send spam to AOL customers?”
* “Charging bulk e-mailers a fee will inevitably be followed by charging everyone a per-e-mail fee.”
* “Perhaps the loss by AOL of 80% of their customers would be a positive outcome of this policy, as this consequence would prevent other large corporate ISPs from imagining for one moment that their user’s attention is an asset that can realistically be bundled and sold to the highest bidder.”
* “Taxing e-mail is predatory; the U.S. Postal Service has long advocated it in the form of 6 cents per e-mail, to recoup lost profit. Congress has repeatedly said no to this proposal. Why? Because it discourages use, and that in turn discourages growth in both the goods and the service industries. It also creates inroads into further taxation…what would be next…local, state and federal tax per e-mail? A universal e-mail tax to pay for those who cannot afford the service? Trust me…it will be proposed. I suspect that this mentality has actually driven to the decline of AOL.”
* “What will quickly happen is that legitimate users will push for a common oversight organization where a single fee can be paid for access to all ISPs. Now, that organization might be ICANN, but we’re talking a lot of money and guaranteed political involvement. The most likely collector of everybody’s fees will be the United States Post Office. Gee, I wonder if the fees will apply only to mass mailers?”
Thank you very much to everyone who provided their comments on the article.
