ISPs charge more for guaranteed delivery

FOUR US ISPs have worked out a natty way of getting extra cash from those who send emails on their networks.

Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and AOL have signed up for the Goodmail scheme. It means that if people send you a mail there is a good chance it will be caught in a spam filter unless the sender pays the ISP money to make sure it doesn't.

The charge is about a quarter of a cent and recipients will see a blue seal on the message indicating that it is a legitimate email.

Goodmail will approve only companies and organisations in existence for at least a year, to thwart fly-by-night operations. Those who have been blacklisted will also be disqualified.

The big idea is that banks and other financial agencies will want a safe system to certify credit card statements, e-commerce receipts and other communications with existing customers. Of course it does mean that more money will be flying into the ISPs bottom lines.

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