You don’t have to travel as far as China to find prominent Internet companies engaging in censorship .

AOL has taken to bouncing messages that refer to a petition against its decision to use Goodmail’s email validation service, according to reports in C|News and The Los Angeles Times .

This is the latest twist in a long running saga over AOL’s decision to charge for the assured delivery of email into its customers’ inboxes.

I can scarcely believe the stories are true.

All ethical considerations aside, politically the censorship plays completely into the hands of those who fear, rightly it seems, that the new arrangement will restrict Internet traditions of free speech and communication (among other things).

UPDATE: It seems that the censorship was an unfortunate accident caused by a “software glitch”.AOL, goodmail, email, spam, censorship, free speech, email tax

Over 50 organisations have written an open letter to AOL asking it to rethink plans to use Goodmail’s CertifiedEmail, which the letter describes as “a threat to the free and open Internet”.

The groups range across the social and political spectrum from the Electronic Frontier Foundation to the Gun Owners of America.

The letter suggests:

This system would create a two-tiered Internet in which affluent mass emailers could pay AOL a fee that amounts to an “email tax” for every email sent, in return for a guarantee that such messages would bypass spam filters and go directly to AOL members’ inboxes. Those who did not pay the “email tax” would increasingly be left behind with unreliable service. Your customers expect that your first obligation is to deliver all of their wanted mail, and this plan is a step away from that obligation.

If you feel strongly about this issue, you can sign the letter as an individual or as an organisation .AOL, email tax, email, goodmail, Internet, not apple mail