Proof once again that the internet isn't free

You wouldn't pay to send or receive e-mail, would you? Well now you may have to. Turns out some morons at AOL (of course) and Ya-Whore Yahoo! thought it a good idea to propose charging companies - literally - to send e-mails to people. Supposedly it cuts down on spam - which it wouldn't.

Here's how this will fare out if the morons are successful at getting companies to pay for e-mail sending/receiving: What will occur is that any company that does this will charge you extra just for the priviledge of receiving e-mail from them in the form of hidden "shipping and handling" charges. Example: Let's say you buy a product for twenty dollars and the S&H is three dollars. You will be charged an extra dollar just to receive e-mail confirmation of your order. "But it only costs the company $0.0025 to send me the e-mail.. why are they charging a buck?" Answer: Because they can. "Operating costs".

In addition to that, how long would it take before internet companies start charging you for every e-mail you send and/or receive? What if you just wanted to write your friend to say "hello"? Why in the name of all that is good and right would you want to pay for that?

What I'm hoping will happen (crossing fingers) is that any company that's potentially forced into doing this will have "preferred e-mail" as an option rather than a requirement.

I would much rather deal with the inconvenience of spam instead of paying for e-mail.

To Yahoo and AOL: You suck. Take your corporate greed and shove it up your ass.