Both AOL and Yahoo plan to introduce fees for businesses and organizations that want to deliver email to AOL and Yahoo subscribers without first going through spam filters. We can all thank spammers for helping us get to this point. No doubt, other providers will follow quickly. (Of course, Hotmail already uses the "Bonded Sender," but that is not a cost per mail program.)
According to an article on ClickZ, AOL's current "Enhanced Whitelist program" will be phased out entirely by the end of June.
Steve Ruble at Micro Persuasion, has this to say:
"That's all folks. The door has officially closed on email marketing. Maybe this will drive more companies to start up opt-in RSS feeds and blogs that facilitate dialogue."
Here are a few stories on this:
"AOL to Implement E-mail Certification Program," from ClickZ.
"Postage is due for companies sending e-mail," from News.com/NYT
"AOL to charge fee as way to cut spam," from USA Today.
"Plan to charge businesses for e-mail triggers outcry," from CNN Money.
UPDATE: DM News is reporting that AOL will continue to offer its Enhanced Whitelist service.
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