A leading antispam agency has hit out at moves to charge companies a fixed fee to ensure e-mail messages are delivered, saying it will erode freedom.
Richard Cox, chief information officer of antispam organization Spamhaus, said Monday "an e-mail charge will destroy the spirit of the Internet."
"The Internet has become what it is because of freedom of communication," said Cox. "Open discussion is what gives it value. There should be no cost for particular services, and e-mail should be free and accessible to all. This will disenfranchise people."
According to reports, Internet giants AOL and Yahoo are planning to charge companies up to a cent per e-mail to guarantee delivery.
Paid-for e-mail would not go through AOL spam filters, meaning businesses could send marketing e-mail directly to the potential customers' inboxes, without the risk of the mails being sent to a junk mail folder or having Web links and images stripped, according to The New York Times.
This wouldn't be a licence to spam AOL and Yahoo users, though, as any firm that used the service would have to show that under antispam laws they had the right to send the e-mail.
Cox said that charging for e-mail services was unlikely to reduce spam despite what he thinks AOL and Yahoo will claim.
"It won't reduce spam directly. AOL is already good at managing spam issues, and Yahoo is getting better," said Cox. "It may make it easier to filter mail, and may provide more resources for spam prevention, but it could also mean that people lose e-mail, and so change provider," Cox added.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the government organization in charge of enforcing antispam legislation in the United Kingdom, cautiously welcomed AOL and Yahoo's move.
"If businesses are being charged it will encourage them to keep their e-mail lists up-to-date. It could encourage greater compliance with [antispam] regulations, which is a good thing from our perspective," said Dave Evans, senior guidance and promotion manager for the ICO.
"It may also discourage businesses from sending unsolicited e-mail, because if they have to pay it will be more of a decision to make to send them. Businesses probably wouldn't want to pay for undelivered messages or e-mail that bounce back," Evans added.
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