No Goodmail For Gmail

Leaving AOL further out on a limb holding its Goodmail playbook, Google said it will not be instituting a payment system to ensure email delivery to Gmail users. The power of email filtering, said the company, should rest in the hands of its users.

WebProWorld Until now, Google had been very quiet about AOL's controversial plan to implement Goodmail's CertifiedEmail system, one that would require approved bulk mailers to pay a small fee per email in order to ensure delivery to member inboxes. After Yahoo! made a separate announcement about the use of Goodmail, many had feared a domino effect in the industry that would cost bulk mailers millions of dollars per year. The fear that Google would follow suit stemmed largely from the presence of Google Vice President Jonathan Rosenberg on Goodmail's list of Rodriguez gave the impression that Gmail's current spam detection system was an adequate defense for its users. "Gmail has a superior spam detection system that gives users ultimate control over the messages that are filtered into their spam folders," she said. The concept that inboxes should be more user-controlled as a part of a larger net-neutrality argument is echoed by David Hughes, chief executive officer of And Google does seem to agree, though it appears they won't be using outside fee-based services, that authentication is a good thing while also acknowledging that Goodmail is not the only option. "Authenticating email so people are assured of the sender's identity is a good practice that Google supports, and there are several existing techniques," said Rodriguez. But it is Dyson's corporate Darwinist email philosophy that critics, like Hughes, oppose. Saying that AOL's plan was "dead on arrival," Hughes framed the AOL conflict as a classic battle of "the haves versus the have-nots." AOL's proposed system not only takes the power out of the hands of users, but also limits small and medium sized businesses' ability to get their messages to recipients. Like Google, Hughes suggests that there are alternative means for email filtering that doesn't financially restrict senders while disconnecting recipients from the filtering process. "You would want something that was lightweight, that could be implemented without making huge changes. One includes the use of supplemental addresses. In this kind of an approach, you give the user the ability to define addresses on which to reach them." In addition to Reflexion's own proprietary system, Hughes suggested the use of ESP options already in place that use "disposable" addresses like Yahoo!'s Plus-addressing. "These are techniques that have been around for a while but haven't been used in the corporate world. People are already doing this but it hasn't been systemized," he said. And suddenly, there is confirmation from the AOL camp as well, that there are, indeed, alternatives to CertifiedEmail, and that there is more than one way to address the issue. After reiterating AOL's commitment to combating spam and phishing, spokesman Nicholas Graham expanded the arsenal of weapons. "It takes many weapons and defenses to tackle the spam and phishing problem; only a strong, comprehensive approach works in delivering results for our members. "Email authentication tools - including Sender ID, and DKIM and Certified Email - are an absolutely integral part of this robust approach and to our ongoing efforts...a view shared by many ISP and ESP leaders in the marketplace," he said. Graham told Murdok last week that CertifiedEmail had not yet been implemented and it was unclear as to when it would be put in place. After last week's here.") Drag this to your Bookmarks. Add to document.write("Del.icio.us") Yahoo My Web