AOL responds Re: AOL/AIM eavesdrops, changes terms of service

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Rusty Hodge <rusty () hodge com>
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 09:23:30 -0800
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: AOL responds Re: [IP] AOL/AIM eavesdrops, changes terms of service

AOL responds:

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1775743,00.asp

America Online spokesman Andrew Weinstein, however, maintained that
AOL does not monitor, read or review any user-to-user communication
through the AIM network, except in response to a valid legal process.

Weinstein told eWEEK.com the clause in question falls under the
heading "Content You Post," meaning it only relates to content a user
posts in a public area of the AIM service. "If a user posts content
in a public area of the service, like a chat room, message board or
other public forum, that information may be used by AOL for other
purposes," he explained.

One example of this, Weinstein said, may be a user who posts a "Hot
or Not" photo and thus allows AIM to post it for other AIM users to
vote on. "Another might be taking an excerpt from a message board
posting on a current news issue and highlighting it in a different
area of the service.

"Such language is standard in almost all similar user agreements,
including those from Microsoft [Corp.] and most online news
publications. That clause simply lets the user know that content they
post in a public area can be seen by other users and can be used by
the owner of the site for other purposes," Weinstein added.

"AIM user-to-user communication has been and will remain private,"
the AOL spokesman declared.

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