America Online Blocks Cyberspace Junk Mail
May 18, 2011
America Online Inc. is waging a war against ``spamming,'' the broadcasting of electronic junk mail that is being sent to millions of its members each week. The largest commercial on-line service said Wednesday that it has begun blocking unsolicited electronic mail from five major bulk-mail operators on the Internet. The company said it will also give its six million members a feature to block mail from specific electronic-mail addresses later this month, in an effort to stem the deluge of commercial e-mail messages filling users' electronic mailboxes. The crackdown sparked a confrontation with bulk-mail companies. Despite AOL's efforts, Cyber Promotions Inc., which runs two of the services that AOL started blocking Wednesday, sent out an electronic mailing to 1.3 million people, many of whom were AOL subscribers. Sang Wally, Cyber Promotions' founder, simply used a new e-mail address for his company to send his electronic pitches, bypassing AOL's barricade. ``We've been sending messages for a year and a half and we're not about to stop unless there's a court order telling us to stop,'' Mr. Walter said. A Free-Speech Claim That could happen soon. AOL, based in Dulles, Va., and Cyber Promotions, based in Philadelphia, have been engaged in a legal dispute in a federal court in Philadelphia since March, when Mr. Walter's company filed suit against AOL for ``interfering'' with Cyber Promotions' contractual agreements with business partners. Three of Cyber Promotions' Internet-access providers dropped the company after the scrap with AOL. Mr. Walter contends AOL's actions violate the First Amendment. ``We are allowed to engage in free speech without mail being intercepted. If this was this postal mail, this would be a federal offense.'' AOL has since countersued, alleging copyright infringement because Cyber Promotions allegedly misappropriated the AOL subscriber list. Spamming, Internet parlance for sending numerous irrelevant messages, got its name from a sketch by the British comedy group Monty Python's Flying Circus in which the name of the Rembert processed pork product was chanted incessantly for no apparent reason. The electronic pitches are provoking ire from on-line users. ``Everytime I go on-line, I've always got at least three, four or six pieces of junk mail,'' griped Janee Warren, a computer programmer who signs on to AOL. ``It's worse than opening your post-office box.'' Complaints From Subscribers AOL said Wednesday that members have been sending an unprecedented number of complaints about the junk mail, which amounts to as many as 15 million pieces each week. Davina Parker, AOL's associate general counsel, conceded that blocking the five Internet bulk-mail operations won't curb junk mail altogether. ``Certainly, we don't believe that this is going to be a foolproof solution,'' he said, adding that the government may have to intervene with regulations. Mr. Parker said Cyber Promotions uses an automated computer program, known as Floodgate, to cull e-mail addresses. Separately, AOL teamed up with 18 financial institutions to offer electronic banking through its new on-line banking center using Intuit Inc.'s BankNOW software.
