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02.10.06
Outrage Over AOL Email Filtering Plans
 By
Rich Ord
AOL's announcement last week that they are often deleting links and images from
emails from those who aren't whitelisted has created a firestorm from their subscribers.
Here are some of the comments I received in response to articles in WebProNews
about AOL's partnership with Goodmail:
When I saw the article about this in the Sunday paper I had much the same thoughts,
only the word "extortion" was the first one I thought of. If AOL, which has always
had a cavalier attitude about other companies, decides to make people pay to have
their email delivered (and that will be the next step), they will end up losing
business. I, for one, would place a notice on my opt-in email sign-up form that
I cannot deliver to an aol address. That will mean AOL customers will miss out
on a ton of free information. Others will undoubtedly do the same thing.
Your point about libel is a good one. The copyright laws might also come into
play here. Huge fines and court costs possible.
I think this is a trial balloon on AOL's part, though.
Posted by: Robert Cain
=================
AS a long suffering but very patient customer of AOL (8,Years) I finally took
the plunge and dumped AOL. This latest scam by AOL will hopefully put the final
nail in their coffin. It is another attempt at extortion and control by internet
companies not only ISP's. YOu only have to look at Intel, Microsoft and Google.
At least Jessie James had the decency to wear a mask.
Posted by: Phill
=================
When AOL and Yahoo start doing this my plan is just to ignore it. Next I might
start saying that "this site does not send email to AOL or Yahoo"- if enough people
did this then there might not be any value in people using Yahoo or AOL.
Posted by: Gary Bradshaw
=================
Am I reading this right. If I have an email account with Yahoo or AOL and have
a paid subscription to someone to receive a weekly newsheet, then Yahoo or AOL
can decide that because my supplier aren't paying them to deliver to me then they
can unilateraly either block links or whatever on that mail or even junk it. Sounds
like more than possible libel - could be theft
Posted by: Tony
=================
This is like the post office opening mail & removing or changeing what is in the
envelope. Infringment of privacy & criminal offence in uk (felony level in usa)
& should be treated by the courts in the same way. next they will be adding their
OWN advertisments! Posted by: ronangel
=================
RE: AOL's Email Tax
Rich,
I hope you're right about AOL reversing course. For this to happen, they need
to get a bloody nose. By slipping the announcement in on Superbowl Sunday, they
are trying to minimize the initial PR damage. And, things have been surprisingly
quiet. There needs to be a huge outcry. The following is a press release we tossed
out…
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2006/2/emw343224.htm
We do have a real dilemma. 20% of my customer base uses AOL or Yahoo. We're supposed
to be whitelisted with AOL, but since January, we've had trouble communicating
with Yahoo customers. I do not intend to pay goodmail. We are looking into Habeas
and Bonded Sender. If spending $10K a year or so would end delivery problems,
I'd pay it in a heartbeat. I won't pay up to $150K, which is what goodmail could
cost. We'll probably run an announcement in a few more days stating that we're
not going to pay goodmail and will instead direct our subscribers to different
email providers (which, in fact, has already begun).
Thanks for fighting this. Lots of people need to fight it.
Matt Michel
CEO & President
The Service Roundtable www.serviceroundtable.com
Read
the rest of the article.
About the Author:
Rich Ord is the CEO of iEntry, Inc. which
publishes over 200 websites and email newsletters.
Rich also publishes his blog WebProBlog
which focuses on internet business and marketing trends. |
