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Do we (felineleukemia.org) want to sign this open letter to AOL? If AOL
does this, our group's emails will not get through to any AOL subscribers
(including me-- though I will change my internet provider if they do this, but
it would be a huge pain since I have had this address a long time and lots of
people have it, including professional contacts).
Michelle
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Are you active in local community groups that depend on email to communicate?
AOL's email tax threatens the ability of nonprofits, charities, small businesses, and others to communicate online.
This week, 50 organizations launched a diverse coalition to stop AOL's email tax. We need your help to grow it to 500.
Dear AOL user,
If you are active in a local civic or community group that depends on email to communicate with members, we need your help now—as we work to stop AOL's email tax.AOL's proposed email tax would give membership groups a horrible choice: pay for every email sent to "guarantee" delivery, or face an increasing number of legitimate emails going undelivered.
This week, a diverse coalition was formed to stop AOL's email tax. Our 50-member coalition representing 15 million people was reported on in over 400 media outlets across the world, 100,000 people read our Open Letter to AOL online, and 300,000 people have signed MoveOn's petition. Our voices are being heard—now help us make them louder.
Let's grow our coalition against AOL's email tax from 50 member organizations to 500. Can you help recruit local organizations you are part of? Individuals (like you) and organizations can sign our coalition's Open Letter to AOL at:
When AOL was confronted with your criticism of its proposed pay-to-send system, AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham told the Associated Press, "There is no substantive news here...some disparate groups of advocates have come together for an event reminiscent of the bar scene in the first 'Star Wars' movie." AOL doesn't yet realize regular people can make a difference. AOL, meet MoveOn.
We know many MoveOn members are small business owners or are active in community groups—PTAs, local environmental groups, religious groups, charities, and others. Many groups you belong to depend on email to communicate and would lose their effectiveness in the world AOL is proposing—where the only ones who get reliable email service are giant bulk-mailers who can afford to pay for every email sent.
For example, after quoting AOL's attempt to marginalize our broad coalition with the "bar scene" comment, the Associated Press described one of our coalition partners—a free online network for cancer patients which cannot afford AOL's email tax, but which also cannot afford the life-and-death consequences if their emails aren't reliably delivered to cancer patients.
Another coalition partner is Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist. Like MoveOn, Craigslist started small and never would have gotten off the ground if AOL's pay-to-send policy had been in effect. The magic of the Internet is that it is free and open to everybody—so small ideas can become big ideas. AOL's email tax is a direct threat to the free and open Internet, creating a two-tier system that leaves the little guy behind.
That's why we formed a big coalition—and need it to get bigger. Already, it includes state organizations like the North Carolina Harm Reduction Center, Marlyland League of Conservation Voters, and Californians Against Waste in addition to national groups such as the AFL-CIO, Gun Owners of America, the Humane Society, the Association of Cancer Online Resources, the Democratic National Committee, Democracy for America, the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project, Free Press, The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Friends of the Earth, and others.
Please help us save the free and open Internet by growing our coalition from 50 member organizations to 500. Please reach out to organizations you are a part of. Individuals and organizations can sign our coalition's Open Letter to AOL at:
Thanks for all you do.
–Eli Pariser, Noah T. Winer, Adam Green, and the MoveOn.org Civic Action team
Thursday, March 2nd, 2006P.S. Please be sure to sign the open letter at www.dearaol.com and if you have a website or blog, please consider helping the cause by attaching this "Stop AOL's email tax" logo on your site: http://www.dearaol.com/action
P.P.S. You know better than anyone how to efficiently communicate directly with AOL by using feedback mechanisms internal to the AOL system—online chats with AOL employees, feedback tools, etc. Can you tell us your suggestions for empowering AOL users to give feedback to AOL? Email [EMAIL PROTECTED]. Thanks.
Subscription Management:
This is a message from MoveOn.org Civic Action. To change your email address, update your contact info, or remove yourself (Michelle Lerner) from this list, please visit our subscription management page at:
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