Ill begin with apologies if this sounds too dumb a question but; What is the problem with keeping their whitelists and offering the option of a Goodmail alternative for potential marketers with budgets (read sensitive spammers)!? The goodmail package can provide additional advanced reciepts etc and even a nice little logo to verify that they are 'safe'... ? > -----Original Message----- > From: LISTSERV site administrators' forum > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Eric Thomas > Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 3:31 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: AOL-Goodmail deal: Good Mail or "Goodfellas"? > > An update on the AOL pay-per-message issue. I have given a > round of press interviews today and it looks like there is > going to be a lot of coverage today and tomorrow. AOL have > backed off on their plans to phase out the > (free) whitelist by June 30, but it seems clear that their > long-term direction remains pay-per-message. I was surprised, > to say the least, to read the following in a recent article, > in which I was quoted about the monopoly situation that AOL's > decision would create: > > > [Eric Thomas] said the main problem is that AOL is only using one > > technology supplier for its new certification plan, leaving > Goodmail > > in a position to become a monopoly. > > > > "Once the system is in place, nothing would prevent Goodmail from > > raising prices to increase profits," Thomas said. "Higher > > certification prices would lead to lower e-mail volumes and reduced > > operational costs for AOL, so they would be unlikely to > complain about any such increases." > > > > AOL's [spokesman] Graham said this was a hang-up Thomas and L-Soft > > would have to deal with. > > Well, I am not ashamed of having a "hang-up" about monopolies. > > At this point, I have very little faith left in AOL's > long-term plans for the existing whitelist. There has been a > downpour of bad press, they have adjusted their position to > control the damage, but industry concerns about the > single-sourced nature of the certification are seen as a > hang-up that we all need to get over. The long-term plan is > still to make us pay ridiculously high fees for the privilege > of not having our mail tossed in junk folders where > subscribers will not see it. > > I think we need to react by creating an open standard for > e-mail certification, something that could be implemented > rapidly and that could support the creation of low-cost or > even free (community-run) certification services. And the > good news is that this can be done through a very simple > extension of DomainKeys. Just picture the DomainKeys we have > today, but with the public key stored at the certification > company, rather than at the sending company. Same checksum > algorithms, same overall structure with a few minor changes, > and you get all the benefits of DomainKeys plus all the > benefits of certification and reputation checking. That open > platform would allow anyone to offer the service at any > price, and it would work with any up to date mail software. > Goodmail could continue to use its proprietary platform, > although I suspect that it wouldn't have the same market > penetration as the open design, but that is the drawback of > proprietary designs. Nobody would be locked out, and > everybody would win (except of course the monopolists). > > Eric >