A Penny for Your Email
Are email account providers embarking on corroborative spamming?
America Online and Yahoo, two of the world’s largest providers of e-mail accounts, are about to start using a controversial system that gives preferential treatment to messages from companies that pay from 1/4 of a cent to a penny each to have them delivered.
As a subscriber on the receiving end of these email accounts hosts, I would be irate that they would consider accepting money for “preferential treatment” of email. I view this as a blatant attempt to fill my inbox with “legitimate” spam.
For instance, I bought a pair of boots that came with a warranty. I would never waste the money to mail in the warranty card if I could simply fill it out online. Lo and behold, my email address is a required field. My choice is either provide an email address or spend $.39 on a stamp.
I provide my email address. At the first sign of spam, I send all email from this domain to my spam folder, and go on with my life. Is this spam, or legitimate correspondence? Obviously according to the company, this is legitimate correspondence. To me, since I never deliberately signed up to receive anything other the warranty coverage, this is spam.
Would this prompt my email provider to send the emails I have marked as spam to my inbox, as long as the sender has paid the prerequisite postage? I certainly hope not!
