Internet tax could come in near future

Tax on E-mail has been in the minds of many over the years, and has recently become more than only an idea.

America Online and Yahoo! are currently taking actions to ensure an E-mail fee. The fee is set at $.0025 per E-mail, which is not much for the private consumer, but to large businesses this nominal fee can add up.

“I don’t think this is a significant charge,” said GCSU Chief Information Security Officer Chad McDonald. “The significance is the implication it has on the university; we could be considered a commercial entity.”

This could potentially pose a problem for GCSU when contacting alumni, students or faculty who use one of these services.

“If we didn’t pay the $.0025.then quite likely your message from a faculty member, admissions office or registrars office will go into your spam box and you may never see it,” said McDonald. “We have had problems with AOL in the past actually listing our mail as spam.”

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation site, AOL and Yahoo! will certify the delivery of E-mails after the fee is paid. Both providers are saying this will reduce spam, but the EFF does not agree.

According to EFF, “this isn’t really an anti-spam measure as much as a ‘pay to speak’ e-mail measure, and it won’t end spam or phishing.”

The EFF is not alone in opposing the new tax. McDonald has also written many letters to these companies to voice his opinion.

“I don’t think it’s going to solve the issues that they are proclaiming it will for their users,” said McDonald. “It is being hailed as a way to prevent spam, but in fact it is a way to guarantee spam.”

Wiley Crider, a Computer Science major, also said he thinks the new fee is not in favor of the public.

“I think it’s just another attempt for Yahoo! and AOL to take as much money from their subscribers as possible,” said Crider. “E-mail is a non-tangible good; for an Internet user to have to pay a tax to send a e-mail is ridiculous.”

However, some companies are taking this subject rather seriously. USA Today reporter Jon Swartz said AOL reports that The New York Times and the American Red Cross have already signed up for the service.

Kevin Newcomb, a writer for www.clickz.com, said that AOL and its partner Goodmail discount opportunities for those who choose to use the program now.

“AOL and Goodmail have said that they would be offering discounts to early-adopters in the first year, to help raise awareness of the benefits of the program,” said Newcomb.

McDonald is not sure if other providers will follow AOL and Yahoo! in this business venture.

“If this model works for AOL and Yahoo!, Gmail may follow suit later on,” said McDonald. “I think they will be one of the last if they do go that route.”

“America Online will begin charging businesses to send commercial E-mail to its users in the first wide-scale use of authenticated e-mail to reduce spam,” said Swartz.

Although there are some fees being implemented, consumers are still able to send e-mails free of charge at this time.

“This is something that a corporate advertiser or Georgia College would pay. This is not something (the individual) would pay,” said McDonald.

McDonald suggests that others who are concerned with this change should contact AOL, Yahoo! or Goodmail customer support departments.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 24 2006. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry