|
 internet service providers are coming round to the idea
that they may have to start levying "postage" fees on those
who send out huge amounts of commercial e-mail, because anti-spam filters
have
failed to keep down the growth of junk e-mail.
The idea of fee-based e-mail is controversial among internet libertarians
and groups such as the Direct Marketing Association, the politically
powerful lobbying group that comprises 4,700 companies, many of which
use e-mail to advertise to customers.
But advocates of a fee-based system for bulk e-mail believe it would
help distinguish between legitimate e-mail from respectable corporations
and offensive spam from shady operators who presumably could not afford
to send tens of millions of messages a day.
from the Financial Times
|