So - once again AOL and Yahoo are out to screw the consumer. Oh - they're not going to charge consumers to send e-mails - only businesses - and then only as an option. Thing is - the hucksters that sign on for this will be able to SEND E-MAILS DIRECTLY TO MAILBOXES - BY-PASSING SPAM FILTERS. The YO-YOs responsible for this stroke of genius say that - by doing so - it will eliminate spam since spammers won't pay. Wanna bet? Wanna bet how long it will take for the greed-grapplers to decide that charging everybody a fee is a really cool idea?

There is perhaps one ray of light. There will always be providers like Google & others who will take advantage of the situation by maintaining their free e-mail and raking in stock boosting revenue from advertisers - and the same folk who provide open source will surely take up the gauntlet. One hopes.

Let's suppose that a cartoon is printed in an Arab paper showing a caricature of Jesus wielding a flame thrower and turning it on a group of Iraqi children. Let's suppose that it is widely disseminated throughout the western world. It goes without saying that there would be plenty of angered and insulted people writing letters to the newspapers and talking about it.

Question: Would aggrieved Christian crowds riot - surrounding and burning the embassies of Muslim countries?

Wouldn't happen.

Think about it.