AOL is scanning INSIDE your emails, blocking any with "unapproved" content

The LangaList ^ | March 22, 2004 | Fred Langa

[Stoat]

This information comes from the LangaList, a GREAT, FREE computer and technology newsletter published by Fred Langa, formerly the Editor of Byte Magazine. This AOL scanning / blocking issue has been covered in two segments so far; here is the first one:

AOL Madness (Warn Your Friends) AOL is at it again. This time, it's reading *inside* its members' emails, and preemptively blocking any messages that contain links to sites that AOL doesn't want you to see.

Note: I'm *not* talking about simple mail blocks, where a mail is discarded if it originates from a "forbidden" address. No: AOL is parsing the content of its members' emails and blocking them even if they merely *mention* a site that AOL disapproves of.

This happened to my last newsletter issue, when I mentioned a perfectly valid and inoffensive link: http://www.codeproject.com/ . It turns out that last summer, in July, AOL put that site on its naughty list for some unexplained reason, and ever since has blocked all emails that even contain a link to that address.

When my list-host ( http://dundee.net ) noticed huge numbers of AOL emails bouncing back, they preemptively sought to find out why, and the folks at AOL then removed the block--- on that one address.

AOL's mail system is just this side of insane. Not only does it read inside member emails for links that AOL doesn't like, but--- as we've reported before--- if AOL members get a little lazy and block a newsletter like this one, instead of unsubscribing, AOL keeps track of the blocks. Last time I looked, if as few as 10 readers took the lazy way out of stopping a mailing, AOL would assume that the mail in question was spam. In my case, if just 10 AOL users out of 160,000 readers--- that's 0.00006 of my readers--- took the lazy way off the list, all AOL subscribers would have their legitimate issues blocked for some time thereafter.

AOL's user-level mail filters are nearly useless because the master filters discard emails before they ever make it to the users' mailboxes and the local filters there. That means AOL members can white-list senders to their heart's content but it will have no effect at all on the pre-filtering that's done by AOL before their mail ever gets delivered. AOL's user-level mail controls are a little like those fake thermostats you sometimes see in office buildings that are meant to give occupants the illusion of local control, when in reality, a central system is making all the real decisions.

Noted tech writer Brian Livingston also has been struggling with this, as he reported in http://briansbuzz.com/w/040408/ . Just look at the jaw-dropping failure rates he found:

I've written many times that Internet service providers (ISPs) are mishandling the growing menace of spam by imposing crude "junk-mail filters" that delete legitimate messages without notifying the intended recipients of that fact.

...AOL "bounced" about 88% of the newsletters that had been sent to subscribers who use aol.com e-mail addresses. The problem was also severe at subsidiaries owned by AOL, including cs.com (which bounced 88%) and netscape.net (96%).

...[AOL's] filter simply deletes huge quantities of mail without ever delivering it... (click link above for full article)

If you have friends on AOL, you may wish to tell them about this ( http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm ) so they'll know why their email is so unreliable. Of course, there's no guarantee they'll see your email, just as there's no guarantee that legitimate subscribers to this newsletter on AOL will get this issue....

But there's a glimmer of hope: For the first time ever, AOL's membership has started to shrink significantly. Users are finally realizing they can get better service at lower costs from other ISPs. Perhaps if enough members vote with their dollars, AOL will wake up and meaningfully change its Big Brother-ish ways.

Here is the second segment of the AOL scanning /blocking story:

Just For Grins Some unintentional humor fell out of the serious discussion of AOL's antispam policies, which we discussed last issue: AOL blocks emails that merely contain a link to sites AOL doesn't approve of. ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-04-19.htm#2 ) Many AOL subscribers were incensed and asked AOL tech support for an explanation. Reader "Ray" for example, got this immediate reply from AOL:

...I assure you that AOL is not blocking emails of any sort from arriving on your mailbox.... Ray sent that to me, not knowing whom to believe.

But at almost the same moment Ray's mail arrived, I also got this:

Dear Fred, I just thought that I would let you know that I forwarded your [send to a friend] letter to all my friends on aol. Guess what, aol bounced everyone of them. This is the reason they gave: "(reason: 554-: (HVU:B1) The URL contained in your email to AOL members has generated a high volume of complaints... AOL will no longer accept email with the URL contained in your message. 554 TRANSACTION FAILED" ---Kris

Then I got a note from Fred and Anne Weaver:

After reading your recent newsletter on AOL I tried to send it to an AOL friend. Your URL caused it to be rejected by AOL! Why anyone uses AOL is beyond me. ---Fred and Anne

Then a note from Diane H Kuhn:

I tried to email the latest newsletter to 2 of my family members with AOL address. Both were returned to me within minutes of sending...the reason? It contained a link to a Malicious site....hmmmmm. I guess I better print it and mail it!! Thanks, Diane

It went on all day--- notes from AOL members telling me that AOL techs swore that AOL would *never* block email... followed by mail from readers outside of AOL who tried send to AOL members, and got their mail blocked.

The amusing thing, aside from AOL's blatant duplicity in telling its customers one thing while simultaneously doing the opposite (ok, I have a dark sense of humor), is that the only link in the "send to a friend" letter was a link to the current LangaList issue on Langa.Com--- there was no ad link, no spam link, no tracking link, nothing but a link to a newsletter that criticized AOL. But that was enough for AOL to install a block on Langa.Com email. (Or, as AOL might say: "Block? What block? We'd never do that...!" )

[Stoat]

Anyone wishing to unsubscribe from AOL, or recommend unsubscribing to their friends, may wish to look at

www.thelist.com

and also

www.dslreports.com

These sites allow you to locate available ISP's in your geographic area and compare them by features, service and price. You can also view user comments about the services.

[martin_fierro]

[SunStar]

Solution? Stop using AOL. A fast and easy fix.

[observer5]

Anyone using AOL deserves no better...

[mountaineer]

I signed up for one of AOL's free trial offers, just because we were going on vacation and couldn't use our internet provider where we were going. Now, they won't believe me when I say I want to cancel it. I've written two letters, following the directions on AOL's website, and they still won't kill the account. I expect to be billed any day now. Sounds like consumer fraud, at the least, to me.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

AOL is a fraudulent
Organization. I wonder why anyone
Likes Them.

Stop
Using That stupid
Company. Let them outsource to
Kenya, for all I care.
STAY AWAY FROM AOL!
!

[cmsgop]

Happend to me too, On my third call I lost control on some poor dude, it worked though.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Call Clark Howard before you do anyything...

[Redcloak]

Try getting a real ISP. Problem solved.

[NRA2BFree]

I dumped AOL 6 years ago after 2 miserable years with them. As far as I*m concerned they*re worthless. I had to buy a new computer after I left them. I could never recommend them.

[Ramius]

All anti-spam and anti-virus utilities look "inside" at the content of the message. If it didn't it would be useless.

AOL was a great thing, back in the days before the WWW caught on. I had a five digit member number for AOL. It is true now, though, that they strain for relevance in the age of the WWW. AOL will continue to decline for the next five to ten years, and then quietly slip away...

[annyokie]

Got that right.

[Stoat]

Mountaineer, I've heard MANY, MANY identical complaints...people sign up for AOL and then they are prevented from unsubscribing, and billed endlessly.

Perhaps a class-action suit is in order?

You have my utmost, sincere sympathies and I wish you the best of luck in dealing with this issue.

You may wish to consider looking at

www.thelist.com

and

www.dslreports.com

to find another internet provider in your area.

I wish that I could do more than offer you my sympathies and good wishes...this is a terrible situation you are in. Best of luck to you.

[AAABEST]

AOL is an internet horror show on many levels. It's designed to ensnare and addict technical idiots.

Stay far away from it.

[mountaineer]

Thanks - we have a provider at home, through my husband's employer. Needless to say, I'll be going the Wi-Fi route as soon as possible.

The last time I called AOL a few days ago, I blew up and slammed the phone down, then wrote my second letter demanding to be cancelled and threatening to file a complaint with the attorney general consumer fraud unit (ha! I don't even know if my state has one).

[mountaineer]

Who dat?

[WinOne4TheGipper]

I'm just having a bit of fun...

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Oops... I was thinking you were looking at my other post. You don't know who Clark Howard is?

[Sgt_Schultze]

Call your bank. Tell them you have terminated service with AOL. Inform them that AOL no longer has authorization to automatically bill your account each month. Instruct them to immediately decline any further transactions from AOL.

[Mears]

MY six months od AOL's free trial offer is almost over. Glad I caught this post.

[NRA2BFree]

AOL is a fraudulent Organization. I wonder why anyone Likes Them.

Stop Using That stupid Company. Let them outsource to Kenya, for all I care. STAY AWAY FROM AOL!

Ah yes, AOHELL! I totally agree. They wrote so many things onto my computer every time I logged on that I had to buy a new one. I could NEVER get through to "tech support" or "customer service" so I sent them an e-mail and told them to cancel. I must have received 4 letters and 2 calls that week from Customer Service asking me to come back. Their "customer service" and "tech support" are in name only.

[Cicero]

Actually, the problem with AOL seems to be that the business types who run it focused on the bottom line. Their only real interest was how many ads they could pile on.

AOL has never had any decent technicians. Their software is full of bugs. Their beta testing is laughable.

I'm sure this was a business decision. Users were complaining about spam, junk mail, and porn, so they have probably been trying to block some of it to prevent these people from bailing out of AOL. They do NOTHING to educate their users, so they are totally unable to fend for themselves.

So, I don't believe there's anything malign about this: just greed, fear, and incompetence.

[South40]

Anyone who uses AOL deserves any and all bad service they get.

[lancer]

Why would ANYONE subscribe to ANY service like AOL? Why not just fire up via internet service provider or cable modem or whatever, and cruise the world? What in the world does AOL or any of those services offer that you can't get FREE by cruising?

[lancer]

Why would ANYONE subscribe to ANY service like AOL? Why not just fire up via internet service provider or cable modem or whatever, and cruise the world? What in the world does AOL or any of those services offer that you can't get FREE by cruising?

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Not complaining, but my post is best read the way I had it.:)

[Overtaxed]

I had to cancel my credit card to get rid of them.

[Squawk 8888]

The best way to deal with these outfits is to "lose" your credit card so the next attempt to debit you fails. You can also go to your credit card provider and ask them to do a chargeback. When the bank gets such a request, they debit the merchant and put the onus on them to prove that you authorized the charge.

[Solar Wind]

NR,

Sad to hear that you had to replace your computer due to AOL but I am not surprised. IMHO the free trial offer CDROM from AOL is equivalent to a virus that takes over your computer when installed. Install it at your peril.

I know first hand. I worked for a while at a multi client help desk that provided technical customer support for several ISP customers. People who had installed AOL on their computer were often blocked from signing up for the ISP. We had to laboriously go through their computer and remove all traces of the AOL install before we could do a simple Windows set up for an ISP in "Dial Up Connections". Removal was not just a simple Uninstall.

At the time it was AOL 4.0 that I was helping people get rid of. The current version, I do not doubt, is worse. I am astounded that a product like this, which actually modifies your computer to reject signing up for a competitor's product, is even allowed on the market.

[MonroeDNA]

Do people really use AOL?

I thought they died long ago?

Is AOL real?

[Peach]

I tried sending the Drudge Report to a friend a CompuServe won't let it go through either.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

I got a free AOL CD package in the mail. It went straight in the trash.

I have never subscribed to AOL and never will. Even back when the Internet was in its infancy I still went with a local provider.

AOL is irrelevant. There are literally dozens of ISPs available for consumers to choose from, some of them offering basic dial-up for under $10.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

It's designed to ensnare and addict technical idiots.

Exactly. It's the Internet for sheeple.

[BlkConserv]

MY six months od AOL's free trial offer is almost over. Glad I caught this post.

Dude - KILL that account NOW. All they're going to do is keep offering you "free" services that snarl you into a long-term contract that's going to cost you more money down the road.

I had AOL a couple of years ago and they pulled the same crap with me. Those clymers wouldn't take no for an answer until I contacted the state Consumer Protection and Better Business Bureau on their asses.

[Concentrate]

AOL is consistently on the side of evil, unless you beat them back. Fortunately, there are many other alternatives today, so there is NO excuse to still patronize them, IMHO.

[Concentrate]

I agree. They WON'T take NO for an answer. You must say the word CANCEL, over and over. I finally got rid of them. Yeah!

[TommyDale]

"I had to buy a new computer after I left them."

Seems a bit drastic. I would have just reformatted the hard drive.

[k2blader]

You mean people actually use AOL?

[MegaSilver]

I can't believe anyone is still on AOL these days.

[MegaSilver]

AOL is an internet horror show on many levels. It's designed to ensnare and addict technical idiots.

Right and right. Once Quantum computers went out, QuantumLink (now AOL) shifted its focus to a new target: Windoze users who had heard of the Internet and figured it was "cool," but were afraid of it.

A rather admirably successful, if a bit devious, business tactic.

[Brytani]

If they do bill you, immediately write a letter to their billing dispute address and send it registered, return, receipt requested. Site your two other letters (dates sent etc) and tell them to immediately remove the charge and close the account. Next move, send a complaint to the FCC.

Years back, DH and I did an AOL free trial and cancelled within the allowed time. Not only did AOL refuse to close the account, they billed us for the service and when we disputed the charges and refused to pay, they sent the "bill" to a collection agency who put it on our credit report.

Talk about a REAL pain in the rear end getting that taken off and fixed.

Learned my lesson quick on billing problems, I don't play games. Our credit is way to important to let some company ruin it.

[Damagro]

send an email to yourself using the link and see if it's true. I have compuserve, which is aol and the email went through just fine

[farfromhome]

AOL is evil. Like Hotel California "You can log off anytime you want, but you can never leave." My opinion, you are much better off using a local ISP. More responsive, often cheaper and the money you spend stays in your community. When traveling, Internet kiosks and cafes are handy to do a quick email.

[Mears]

Thanks to both of you for your most helpful suggestions.

I guess it's a real case of "buyer beware"

[madison10]

AOL is like bloodsucking leech. Why people use it baffles me.

This is bizarre, Mr. Langa is practically my neighbor. Didn't even know his company existed.

[RegT]

Also Remember: AOL Time-Warner = CNN, Time, People Mag, SI, etc. A big Democrat party donor, too.

[taxcontrol]

Simple solution - don't use AOL

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Now, they won't believe me when I say I want to cancel it.

Cancel your credit card instead.

Checkmate.

Just replace it with one of the preaprroved ones you get in the mail every week.

[Stoat]

Madison,
Fred Langa is a near-legend in the computer / tech community. For years he edited Byte Magazine, one of the most influential and respected computer magazines ever.
His free newsletter always contains useful tidbits that are relevant regardless of your level of computer familiarity....highly recommended.

A gentle reminder to readers who may have only read the title or first few lines of the posted articles here...this is not about scanning for viruses or merely blocking spams in the usual way that everyone is accustomed to....this is about scanning the WRITTEN TEXT of the inside of messages for URL's that AOL doesn't like....the URL's that were blocked as documented in Fred Langa's article were either completely innocuous or they linked to sites that had been critical of AOL. Scanning within emails in this manner is unprecedented for an ISP.

Everybody who has more than a passing understanding of computers and the internet knows that AOL is a lousy ISP...that is not what this is all about. This is about AOL taking a step that hasn't been taken before...scanning the CONTENT of your mails, not just the addresses, attachments or headers. This is another step toward Big Brotherism....AOL would be right at home in North Korea (If NK allowed it's citizens to have internet access)

[Alia]

Thank you. This has already happened to several emails I sent out --only those with AOL were "censored". It was an url -- containing material not in synch with Europe's position on WOT.