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What has become clear over the last few days is that Goodmail is not designed to combat spam. It's sole purpose is to generate revenue for itself and partner ISP's.

The only companies who could afford to pay the Goodmail fee are the larger emailers which ISP's already identify as non-spammers.

It makes you wonder what AOL's plans are down the road. The only way for this business model to work is for AOL to require large emailers to pay the fee for admission into AOL inboxes. I don't see any incentive for AOL or other ISP's to maintain any sort of whitelist once the fee model is implemented. If ISP's whitelist the good guys who would be left to pay Goodmail and their partner ISP's?

AOL has stated that non-Goodmail emails may end up in spam folders with images and links disabled. Does this include known opt-in email? Subcribers will likely be confused by this which could damage the credibility of an email publisher and its advertisers. Does an ISP have a legal right to disable links and images of opt-in publishers?

Goodmail does not reduce spam it simply offers a new revenue model for ISP's. AOL and Goodmail have stated this service is about preferential treatment for those who pay. The question is will AOL give unpreferential treatment to opt-in emailers who don't go along?

Related Articles:

>> ISP's May Face Liability For Altering Email
>> Why Is AOL Keeping A Whitelist And Goodmail?
>> Goodmail Is A Bad Idea

Rich Ord is the CEO of iEntry, Inc. which publishes over 200 websites and email newsletters. Rich also publishes his blog WebProBlog which focuses on internet business and marketing trends.