FC: AOL again blocks Trillian instant messaging users

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 09:42:24 -0500
To: politech () politechbot com
From: "B.K. DeLong" <bkdelong () pobox com>
Subject: AOL officially blocking Trillian users

Hey Declan -

I'm not sure if anyone on Politech is a big fan of IM software but a while 
ago I found this great software called Trillian (http://www.trillian.cc) 
that would let me be logged into my ICQ and AOL IM account with the same 
interface at the same time. Not only that, but they had a SecureIM feature 
that would encrypt the traffic between users. And for the hell of it, 
(since I had a Yahoo account from all the yahoogroups I'm subscribed to and 
a MS Passport account for...well, god knows what) I added YahooIM and MS 
Messenger. You can even be logged onto IRC using it as well.

Now it's a free program - they only ask for donations. When AOL "fixed" 
their gaming bug a while back, (http://www.aim.com/resolved.adp) it would 
not allow Trillian users to log into AOL. Trillian fixed the problem with 
an update and patch.

Well, this morning AOL did it again. But this time, we got a blatant 
message before being disconnected:

"[09:22] AOL Instant Messenger: You have been disconnected from the AOL 
Instant Message Service (SM) for accessing the AOL network using 
unauthorized software.  You can download a FREE, fully featured, and 
authorized client, here http://www.aol.com/aim/download2.html ."

Which is bullshit. AOLIM Doesn't have nearly the AOLIM features that 
Trillian has and I'm PISSED that AOL wants me to use a more insecure 
product over an innovative one that provided more of a degree of security, 
logging etc. This sooo smacks of anti-competitive practices.

Am I right? Who's working on a anti-trust case against AOL? Sign me up, dammit.

--
B.K. DeLong
bkdelong () pobox com
617.877.3271

http://www.brain-stream.com               Play.
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org        Potter.
http://www.attrition.org                       Security.
http://www.artemisiabotanicals.com     Herb.




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