CentMail: My Two Cents

You’ve probably read about CentMail, Yahoo’s research project that urges us to do good and fight spam. Given that spam is consistantly ranked as one of the most annoying things around (together with other evils such as slow internet connections, cramps and running out of toilet paper) this is a welcome development. The idea is simple – introduce a 1 cent charge per email sent. This way we’ll price the spammers out of the market and voilà, viagra sellers and penis surgeons are out of business!

Now, hold your horses… Actually, 1 cent is a hefty sum, I think, that would price any business, legitimate or not, out of the market. By comparison, email marketing providers offer solutions at such low prices that make CentMail equivalent to paying an extra £3 for a first class snail mail stamp. No business will go for this, and therefore most emails will go around unstamped. End of story.

What I do like about Yahoo’s effort is the charity angle. The cent we’d pay for each email sent does not go to the company, but rather to a charity of choice. This would mean that if I were to sign up I would be donating a few quid a month while typing away to friends, which can only be a good thing. And while not dooming spam to death, CentMail may end up as a new way of raising money (imagine how valuable charity email virals would become) and showing that we care.