Senders Pay Up for E-Mail Guarantee

Four more US internet service providers will start charging banks, e-commerce sites and other large e-mail senders for guaranteed delivery. In deals expected to be announced Thursday Goodmail Systems is expanding its CertifiedEmail program to Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable’s Road Runner and Verizon Communications. Yahoo and Time AOL became inaugural participants last year. Individuals, businesses and organisations will be able to continue sending messages for free, but they risk finding those missives caught in increasingly aggressive spam filters. With Goodmail, a company can pay a quarter of a cent per message to bypass those filters and reach inboxes directly. Recipients see a blue seal verifying that the message is legitimate. Senders get confirmation and can resend messages lost in transit