Ok, i found out some more information about that whole "AOL/Yahoo charges for email" ruckus going on. As expected, i was wrong.
Here's what i found out from the guy responsible for implementing it. This is what was sent to BoingBoing and EFF in reaction to their posts. i'll note there's not been a retraction yet.
i'd like to provide some clarification about Yahoo!'s plans for testing the Goodmail certified mail system.
Our implementation will be limited to "transactional" email messages such as bank statements and order receipts, as stated in this release, Phishing attacks frequently mimic these types of messages. By highlighting the real transactional messages, we think users will have a better chance to avoid the scams.
Our delivery policies for non "certified mail" messages will not change. We agree that email is a great medium for knitting enthusiasts, bowling leagues, political organizations and families to communicate to one another. To make Yahoo! Mail the place you want to read them, we need to deliver the messages that you want and value to the place that you want them — the inbox. Similarly, we need to (and will continue to) deliver the messages that *you* don't value to your spam folder. If we don't, people won't choose to use Yahoo! Mail.
Protecting our users from abuse is a top priority here and we'll continue to innovate and explore new anti-spam and security methods. Goodmail's reputation and accreditation service is a complement to email authentication. As you are well aware, we are major proponent of email authentication, having authored DomainKeys, we chose to make DomainKeys available royalty free to the industry, and are currently working with the IETF on the DKIM standard.
As you point out, the best solution is to empower users with the information to make better, safer choices, and that's exactly what is happening here.
Miles Libbey
Anti-Spam Product Manager
Yahoo! Mail
So, just so were clear here, the billing structure is put in place for those companies that send transactional type mails (e.g. PayPal account statements, eBay billing notifications, Amazon.com receipts, etc.) The "pay for" emails are simply highlighted.
Your letters to Mom and Dad are not affected
There, i apologize to the mail folks for jumping the gun on this. i'm an idiot, but then anyone who knows me knows that.
