OtherEnded 8 Aug

Should every email sent be charged a flat fee of 1p, paid to the 'first hop' ISP by the sender?

Yes 17%No 83%158 votes cast

Email has long been free for most users in the UK, funded by advertising, subscriptions, or ISP bundles, but this leads to massive spam volumes that burden networks and inboxes. A 1p flat fee paid by the sender to the first-hop ISP would add a small monetary cost to every message, potentially filtering junk while generating revenue for infrastructure. The idea draws from older proposals to price internet externalities, though no UK government has implemented it as of 2026.

Jump to opinions· 4

The proposal was met not by a rival design, but by practical doubt, fee fatigue and silence from its supporters.

“I'm not sure what you mean by first hop ISP. Its an idea that draws from older internet technologies where companies sending mail had mail servers on premise. My company email goes out through Microsoft 365 and through an online marketing comms platform. So the first hop ISP is the one they use which in the case of Microsoft is a bit meaningless. And why should ISPs benefit. They can charge ”

NO case · Cathryn · 3 respects

LeftCentreRight

V_Panky· 189
The Armed Homekeeper
NO
H
Hello· 154
The Managerial Nationalist
NO
F
FatboyNo8· 322
The Market Sovereigntist
NO
R
Rydo87· 260
The All-Rounder
NO
P
Pufnstuf· 159
The All-Rounder
YES
HarryButcher· 414
The Constitutional Social Democrat
NO
C
CivilAnchor34· 24
The Green Welfare Leftist
NO
AlexHolstead· 425
The Social Covenant Keeper
NO
B
BrightVoice41· 8
The Centre-Left Egalitarian
NO
T
TrueHerald46· 307
The Electoral Meritocrat
NO

17%

Yes · 27 votes

83%

No · 131 votes

Spread the wordShare

DocketRelated verdicts

Debate

4 Opinions

JustFactsNotBeliefs· 527

The Peacemaker

Voted noC. Left lean

Good luck with that... Might sound flippant but in all honest if they do the current providers will just fall by the way side just like the royal mail has. There's just to many providers, with more popping up every day whole give free access to gain accounts.

Glasses· 556

The Motorway Marketeer

Voted noRight lean

Stop charging for everything!! If companies can allow free then what's the problem.

MikeyN· 308

The Firestarter

Voted noLeft lean

Unworkable and would encourage cyber attacks.

Cathryn· 213

The Green Security Insurgent

Voted noLeft lean

I'm not sure what you mean by first hop ISP. Its an idea that draws from older internet technologies where companies sending mail had mail servers on premise. My company email goes out through Microsoft 365 and through an online marketing comms platform. So the first hop ISP is the one they use which in the case of Microsoft is a bit meaningless. And why should ISPs benefit. They can charge businesses for traffic if they want to.