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AOL and Yahoo Are Idiots

I can not believe that these idiots are considering making folks pay to send e-mail to their servers. I could see AOL thinking up something stupid like this, but Yahoo!? They have at least a little bit of geek street creed.

Thankfully, the EFF is on the case.

Posted by Jake on 02/08/06 @ 04:30 PM
Posted in Moronic | 8 Comments | Permalink
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8 Comments

Paul said on 02/08/06 @ 05:20 PM:
I know: this is totally stupid. But at least they're trying to think of a way to stop spam.

I don't understand why they don't just whitelist SMTP servers. Have the rest pay 10 ct an e-mail.

Nameless One said on 02/08/06 @ 10:19 PM:
Actually, this plan makes perfect sense. The 1/4 to 1 cent charge per email will have no impact on regular users, but will make Spam too expensive to send in mass. This is the only plan that will save our inboxes. Cross your fingers and hope everyone adapts this system.

Zmidponk said on 02/09/06 @ 09:26 AM:
I could be wrong, but I don't really see this having a huge effect. If I am reading that right, anyone who sends e-mail without paying for it will still get it sent, so you will still have spam sent at you, it's just that the companies who do pay will have their e-mail given preferential treatment.

Paul said on 02/09/06 @ 09:28 AM:
There's something to be said for that. Still, I don't like the idea of paying per e-mail I write.

I encourage the concept, but I think it would only be attractive if ISPs gave us 'normal' users free, unlimited e-mail. If one of their customers uses it abusively, its in the ISPs own interest to kick the user and report him to the authorities (assuming spam is illegal in that country).

Rick said on 02/09/06 @ 12:35 PM:
The only people that will pay to send email are spammers. The cost will simply be passed on. AOLers are such idiots that they likely get a high clickthrough rate anyhow.

Paul said on 02/09/06 @ 01:21 PM:
I don't agree. $0.0025 per e-mail most people are willing to spend. If you're a spammer sending out a hundred thousand or so e-mails a day... Well, you do the math.

If you ask me, it should be more like $0.01, paid by your ISP.

Sandy said on 02/10/06 @ 08:40 PM:
Yeah. I'm an ISP, we are spammer-free and send out 100% legit e-mail. We're not paying to have legit e-mail guaranteed delivered because THEY don't know how to properly configure a mail server/filter system. All this does is rubber-stamp stupidity.

Nameless One said on 02/13/06 @ 10:41 AM:
That's all it takes to stop spam? A properly configured server and spam filter? LOL that's a good one!

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