THE EMAIL TAX (was Re: Pay to send email...)

[david at thekramers.net (David Kramer)]

Robert La Ferla wrote:
> There was an article on this on the BBC today and I think we will see 
> more and more articles on this as corporations are salivating over the 
> prospects of profiting from every e-mail you send.  Corporations will 
> start out charging us to send e-mail then at some point the government 
> will step in and extract a tax from it.  Be prepared to pay through the 
> nose for e-mail.  I can see it now.  If you want to send an e-mail to 
> India, it will cost you only $0.05/KB but we have great rates on e-mail 
> to Mexico for only $0.01/KB.
> 
> BBC Article on Paying for E-Mail
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4684942.stm

I think if that trend really started to take hold, other internet-based 
communication methods would become more prevalent, as well as webmail 
systems, where emails are not actually delivered over SMTP.

Email is too important.  Look what's happening with the Blackberry law 
suits.  The government essentially said "Yeah, it looks like RIM might 
be infringing on those patents, but the government employees rely so 
heavily on RIM, we can't let you shut off their service".

The internet is like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park,  No matter how many 
ways you try to shut it down, it routes around it eventually.

The spice must flow.