| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 |
13:12 - I'll bet they don't know "fungible" either
|
(top)  |
Hey, look what I just got from MoveOn.org. Looks like we can add "SMTP" to the list of things they don't comprehend:
Dear MoveOn member,
The very existence of online civic participation and the free Internet as we know it are under attack by America Online.
AOL recently announced what amounts to an "email tax." Under this pay-to-send system, large emailers willing to pay an "email tax" can bypass spam filters and get guaranteed access to people's inboxes—with their messages having a preferential high-priority designation.1
Charities, small businesses, civic organizing groups, and even families with mailing lists will inevitably be left with inferior Internet service unless they are willing to pay the "email tax" to AOL. We need to stop AOL immediately so other email hosts know that following AOL's lead would be a mistake.
It'll be an amazing tax indeed if it enables spammers to use some new "SMTP header" technology to defeat my mail program's filters. SpamAssassin, your days are numbered! Bayesian heuristics be damned! AOL is on your case!
Just curious, but—isn't this kind of pay-per-send scheme exactly what people have been tentatively suggesting would be an excellent way to combat spam? Miniscule charges—like, say, a penny a message—for casual e-mailers, but charges that would add up to prohibitive amounts if you're sending out millions of spams a day? The point being, you know, that spam only makes economic sense to a spammer as long as there's no extra cost for sending two million messages versus just one or two?
Is MoveOn.org all up in a wad over this because a Big Corporation™ has proposed it? Or because it would threaten their ability to send out mailing list messages to people like me?
|
|
Brian Tiemann
