epostage - another sign of the epocalypse

Google's been all over this today - AOL and Yahoo are going to start "epostage" - charging companies to send email. Many writers are saying that it's only a matter of time before that system comes to individuals - but hopefully it never does. ...grabs soap bucket... What are these people thinking? Why would I pay to send email?? I already pay an ISP and I may pay for an email address (I do), so why would I want to pay for more? Is it preferred sending? Really - the email will still get there (a nanosecond or two later), but if this is the solution to spam (wasn't Bill thinking about this before) - then I'm not buying. I think it's still going to be possible for spammers to get a "certified" account - or to hijack the account of others - and send email through into the "trusted system". I hope this fails miserably. I remember thinking that 2005 was going to be the end of free email, well Gmail proved that wrong, but 2006 may prove to be the end of free use. Technorati Tags: ePostage