A group of nonprofit organizations and small businesses will announce the formation of a coalition aimed at putting a stop to plans by America Online Inc. and Yahoo Inc. to charge fees to mass e-mailers, writes Robert McMillan for Computer World.

The coalition, sponsored by Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), wants the twho Internet giants to abandon their plans to adopt Goodmail’s CertifiedEmail service.

According to Cindy Cohn, the EFF’s legal director, “The ISPs’ view that they can auction off preferred access to my e-mail box is really wrong… It’s not the ISPs’ to sell.”

The coalition includes two political adversaries: the liberal MoveOn.org and the conservative RightMarch.com political action committees.

Goodmail plans to introduce a new pricing plan for nonprofits that wish to use the service, but organizations are concerned about any new e-mail costs.

Source: Computer World.