Are Yahoo! and AOL Teaming Up With Spammers?

Both Yahoo! and AOL have announced plans to offer e-mail senders the option of having their messages delivered with a higher level of priority than other e-mails. Specifically, the e-mail would be delivered faster, and without threat of being filtered by spam blocker software. This only applies server-side, and would effect client-side tools such as those used to filter spam in Outlook.

For something under, $.01 - senders will have the option to have their messages marked, "special delivery." That's, right. For a small fee e-mail senders would be able to bypass normal filtering criteria used to block junk messages. In order to use the service, the sender would have to state that the recipients had already asked to receive messages from them. Unfortunately, as we all know, spammers are liars.

One possible interpretation is that this is an effort to get in on the spam racket. AOL and Yahoo! both spend massive amounts of money on trying to mitigate junk e-mail, while not making money from it directly. A penny per e-mail might put a little money in the bank, without being so expensive as to deter all commercial e-mail senders.

On the flip side, it could be said this would let both ISPs filter e-mail more stringently, since they allow legitimate companies a method to bypass e-mail filters altogether. Legitimate mass mailings such as newsletters are common victims of efforts to eliminate spam e-mail.

Both programs claim to hold e-mail senders to certain standards. Those who violate them risk having all their messages blocked.

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