[IP] more on EFF: AOL Censors Email Tax Opponents
Begin forwarded message:
From: Jim Warren <jwarren@xxxxxxxx>
Date: April 13, 2006 11:11:22 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: press@xxxxxxx, danny@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] EFF: AOL Censors Email Tax Opponents
A very timely notice, Dave and EFF. I've been meaning to write about
a related incident:
Earlier this week, I sent email to an old friend, Bob Albrecht (long
long ago, he edited People's Computer Company newspaper; I edited Dr.
Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics & Orthdontia in the adjacent
office).
I sent my message from my multi-decade eaddr, at the ["world famous"]
WELL -- Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link.
The next day, some hours AFTER I had received his response -- i.e.,
he had obviously received my message -- I received a very apologetic
message from the WELL's Helpdesk, saying that AOL had notified them
that Bob had identified me as a spammer and that AOL was therefore
blocking ALL email from the WELL (that had existed long before AOL
was even a daydream in some hustler's mind) ... and requesting that I
not send anything else to Bob at that address.
I relayed a query to Bob about this, through a mutual friend (Dennis
Allison), who used a different AOL addr for Bob. Bob quickly
responded to both of us, saying that he was happy to hear from me and
did NOT report me to AOL as a spammer.
However, I had ALSO sent email to another old friend whom I hadn't
seen in years -- another AOL victim -- in which I casually (and, I
thought, privately) commented:
"Hope this get to you; I'm not-at-all sure about the eaddr --
'specially given that it's with AOfuL <grin>."
Seems like my label was more on-point than even I had dreamed.
Isn't it about time that we had common-carrier status for email -- as
HAS been the mandate for the telephone cartel? (Otherwise -- like
AOL -- it could block all phone calls that it could identify as being
critical of it.)
--jim
Jim Warren; jwarren@xxxxxxxx, public-policy advocate & technology writer
Aside for computer antiquitarians: DDJ was the first periodical
devoted to microcomputer software -- back before the phrase,
"personal computing" was even invented. The "Dobb's" in that old
Journal's name is a contraction of "Dennis" and "Bob", mentioned
above, who created the publication, and hired me as its founding Editor.
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