Ms. Smith Goes to Washington

February 15, 2006

Charge for E-Mail?

MS. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON
by Shirley Smith

Well, I guess I will have to start looking for a new provider because, I will not pay and I will not want this scam about Spam from AOL or anyone else who plans to do this. If Americans stick together, maybe we, at least, can save the Internet. We can't save our government, because our Democrats in Congress will not stick together.  

Why can't these corporations just leave us the hell alone? The Internet is the best thing that has happened to this country, since we no longer have a media that we can trust. I tried to find a place to email AOL about this, and of course, it's like finding a four leaf clover in scrub grass. I can find technical, phone help, automated questions and crap, but those are just employees ... I guess I'll wait because I'm sure a group will know who to write and where. I'm sick and tired of having my life run by money-grubbing corporations and a criminal administration in DC ... it will take the people to get rid of this plague of greed that is preying upon humanity. AOL may just be getting too big for its britches.   The justification is that if people have to pay to send email, they won't send junk email. Apparently AOL and Yahoo believe that if we "tax" speech then only desirable speech happens. We all know how well that works for postal mail -- that's why no one gets any "free" AOL starter disks, right?

More seriously, as we discuss below, this isn't really an anti-spam measure as much as a "pay to speak" email measure, and it won't end spam or phishing. Prominent anti-spammer Richard Cox of Spamhaus agrees: "an e-mail charge will destroy the spirit of the Internet."

EFF: DeepLinks  

Of course, the Bush GOP would just love this, ruining the Internet. After all, Bush couldn't care less about the Internet, books, news, people ... only what he wants fed to him by his own people. Sick, sick society, we have today, and its leadership is the sickest of all.

* * *

Well, there is a start up against AOL charging for emails. They are like a monster with a big appetite. In fact, the whole damn world is becoming like that, preying upon the poor, working class, elderly, and I say, we need to start biting back ... with crunch.

Drive Democracy.org sent out the following:    

The internet is under attack, and online organizing appears to be the main target. AOL is spearheading the attack. It is offering to sell access to your inbox to giant corporations. For a fee, these corporations will be allowed to bypass spam filters. Online organizations which cannot afford the tax will be blocked from emailing AOL members.

This is a serious threat that could greatly diminish our ability to keep one another informed. Our friends at MoveOn.org have launched an online petition drive to stop AOL. Please sign the petition at:

http://civic.moveon.org/AOLpetition/

America Online is not used to citizen outrage, and our voices could stop the company in its tracks. This is a critical issue for all of us engaged in political organizing. One of the great benefits of the internet is that it has provided a way for the voices of everyday Americans to make a difference. Now AOL is trying to hand the advantage back to giant corporations. Please help. Sign MoveOn.org's petition.

http://civic.moveon.org/AOLpetition/

Thank you,

Glenn Smith

 

Thanks BuzzFlash,

Shirley Smith

Shirley Smith is a regular BuzzFlash Reader and Contributor. Many of her earlier posts can be found in the Mailbag.