Thread: WARNING: AOL is looking at you, kid! OFF SUBJECT

A few years ago in a tech letter that I subscribed to someone ask about AOL., well the answer they gave was "friends don't let friends do AOL" well that saying stuck with me. I thought it was because you had a hard time getting it out of your computer. Today I came across this and wanted your thoughts on it.



WARNING: AOL is looking at you, kid!

AOL has been since its inception an operating entity of the US intelligence apparatus. Their latest admission is that they have formed a partnership with Fatherland Security to permit unlimited surveillance on AOL subscribers, as reported by the US Department of Commerce. They for years have supplied intelligence on subscribers and have allowed government agencies free access. We have told you this time after time for the past ten years.

What AOL did illegally for years was legalized under the Patriot Act, which permits warrantless searches of persons and property. If you use AOL all your personal emails and information is distributed to law enforcement all over the country. American and European business communities are fearful trade secrets may end up in the hands of the Bush crime family and their associates worldwide, never mind the dossiers that are being build upon average American citizens. We have had extensive problems with sending to AOL subscribers for years. AOL has blocked any messages that contain links to sites that AOL forbids you to see. Using software AOL is able to kick back any email that even mentions a forbidden site. AOL members can white-list senders, but it has no effect at all on the pre-filtering that AOL does before the email ever gets delivered. One journalist said AOL bounced 88% of the newsletters that had been sent to subscribers who use AOL, including cs.com and netscape.net. AOL deletes huge quantities of mail prior to delivery.

In August, AOL paid $1.25 million in penalties and costs and has to reform some of its customer services practices to settle an investigation by AG Eliot Spitzer’s office. Three hundred customers said AOL ignored demands to cancel service and stop billing. That has been going on for six years. In similar complaints in April they paid $75,000 to the AG in Ohio. The complaints are legion. A site just dropped all of its AOL subscribers because AOL wouldn’t deliver to their subscribers. We warn you now it is only a matter of time before we have to drop AOL. If you are an email subscriber we advise you to find another ISP. Every week we have problems that you can avoid by changing carriers.

Source: The October 23, 2005 edition of The International Forecaster


http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=10214

WOW!!! Good to know!!

I bought my computer 2 yrs ago, it was a Wal- Mart special and I a total novice. AOL was pre-installed , it didn't take long to find out about them, just to cancel the free trail period I had to answer 10 min. of questions. Never again.

I have never used AOL on MY computer but several friends have had it and I've used it on theirs and I thought it was THE MOST DIFFICULT ISP I have ever seen.

But, Darlene, this report is downright SCARY. I wonder if there is ANY WAY to verify this????

ever notice that aol symbol it's just like CBS and Monsters INC, the dollar bill.

THE ALL SEEING EYE

I never used AOL when I was using dial up internet years ago. I heard their service wasn't very good and thought it was quite pricey at over $20 a month. I stuck to the free services when they were around and used Juno for $9.99 a month before going to a DSL internet service.

Read this article

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1676361,00.asp

All ISP's are required to keep a list of every web site that you visit and track you. They can and will share that information to the feds when it is requested and they are not allowed to tell you that they are doing it. This information can easily be used to round up activists.

Well, they are probably ALL WATCHING US!! Hope they enjoy the sparring!

Hey, I have a really old computer (166Mhz with 1.99GB) and I use AOL 6.0 because it is all my computer can handle, other than WalMart Connect which we've tried and it constantly has problems. I have thought of swithching to another ISP for the price alone, but wonder if anyone has any suggestions as to which ISP would support our old computer? I just get mad when I call for service and everyone I speak with, I can't understand!!! I want to yell "hey this is suppossed to be America Online, not India Online!!!!", and to add insult to the fact that these jobs have been outsourced to people in India, they use names like "Jim" and "Bob"! COME ON FOLKS, DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE I THINK YOUR NAME IS JIM OR BOB? So anyone that might have info to help me switch, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!!

I used Juno for several years and thought the service was okay for the money (about $10 a month). You may want to confirm they have local numbers in your area before switching. Another alternative is Netzero at the same price.


http://www.juno.com/

http://www.netzero.net/