Reports on CNET last week claimed that Goodmail, the certified e-mail provider, has signed five of the largest Internet service providers in the U.S. "to start charging businesses for guaranteed delivery of their e-mails, in a bid to combat spam."

According to CNET, "Goodmail Systems, which provides a service called CertifiedEmail, announced Thursday that it had signed up Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable's Road Runner and Verizon as customers. E-mails certified using the system will be marked with a blue ribbon to show they come from a trusted source, thus bypassing spam filters--a privilege that will cost the sender a quarter of a U.S. cent per e-mail."

CNET notes that this is a voluntary plan aimed at large mailers. According to the same source, nonprofit groups will be able to use the service for roughly a tenth of the commercial rate.

According to Goodmail's press release, "Already in operation at AOL and Yahoo!, the addition of these new partners means the CertifiedEmail standard will be in use at all five of the nation’s top five ISPs. Introduced in 2006, CertifiedEmail is a trusted-class delivery option offered only to qualifying, legitimate commercial and non-profit emailers for messages to existing customers and users who have specifically opted in to receive such communications. Once accredited by Goodmail, these senders’ email messages are delivered with cryptographically secure tokens which participating ISPs detect. CertifiedEmail messages are labeled with a unique blue ribbon icon in the email program, enabling consumers to immediately distinguish the legitimate messages they want to receive from messages of unknown authenticity or safety. Today’s announcement follows a national poll that indicated the majority of consumers would be more likely to open and read email if the sending company displays a certified icon in the email program."

According to Goodmail, "seven U.S. ISPs now use CertifedEmail, accounting for 60 percent of the U.S. population. Goodmail--which takes up to 50 percent of the revenue generated by the plan--will for now approve only mail sent by companies and organizations that have been operational for a year or more. Ordinary users can still apply to be white-listed by individual ISPs, which effectively provides the same trusted status."

NTEN hosted a community conversation with Richard Gingras, CEO of Goodmail and representatives from AOL at the 2006 NTC. A tape of the session can be found here.