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. The senders must contact only people who have agreed to receive their messages, or risk being blocked entirely.

Source NYT

This is simply a new revenue scheme, an attempt to wall up their gardens, and the first real step towards breaking the internet.

The system they are proposing will do nothing to cut down on spam. Nothing.

Marketing companies, whom make big dollars sending spam, can and will pay the fee to insure delivery of their messages.

Small business and individuals will be taxed to communicate with anyone within these walled gardens.

If they get there way, nothing but walled gardens are in our future.

• AOL and Yahoo want to charge extra to insure delivery of e-mail.
• SBC wants to charge companies to deliver content to subscribers who already pay to access the very same content.
• Google supposedly wants to create its own pseudo-internet.

No wonder the everyone in the world wants to wrestle control of the internet away from the U.S.

If American businesses do not assert a principle of Net neutrality, we will be forced to cede control to an international organization within the decade.