Thursday, August 24, 2006

AOL Agonies Of Late

Well, it didn't take long for Time Warner to pull Maureen Govern's page on their corporate site.
Don't bother, the AOL stone masons chiseled her very being from both the temple, as well as the rest of the internet that they could manage to get to.

Dr. Abdur Chowdhury, the person actually responsible for posting the data on the internet, according to Slashdot, has retained a lawyer. Actually, I can't wait to get his latest book,

"A. Chowdhury, "Automatic Evaluation of Web Search Services" , ISBN: 0-12-012164-6 Book/Hardback , Advances in Computers, April 2005",

which can be verified on his sitepage.

Bet the meta tag gets updated real soon there too.

Let's review AOL's Button Policy, highlighting their view to your right to free speech:

About Putting a My AOL Button on Your Site

AOL is providing you with an 'add to MyAOL' button to use on your interactive site(s) that will provide your end users with the ability to add RSS feeds distributed on your site(s) into AOL's RSS reader. By using the button, you agree to the following: (a) not to alter the button in any way (e.g., design, size, color, code, etc); (b) not to display the button in any manner that can be reasonably interpreted to suggest editorial or other content on the page has been authored by, or represents the views or opinions of, AOL; (c) not to display the button in a manner that is misleading, defamatory, infringing, libelous, disparaging, obscene or otherwise objectionable to AOL, or that impairs the rights of AOL in its trademarks or logos, in AOL's reasonable opinion; (d) not to violate any law or regulation in connection with your use of the button; and (e) to remove the button from your site(s) promptly upon AOL's request.

Of course, you don't have to use their button. You can make one of your own as long as you write the code yourself!! Oh, and please don't infringe in any trademark rights they have...
Just be a little more creative. EFF's fine example is on the right.

Rights!! What was I thinking??
"Must be a bit too much preservative in the meat ration. Or too much of that oily gin."

Maybe your thinking of upgrading to AOL 9.0 for all the neat security add-on freebies. Well, you might want to wait until StopBADware.org complets their review & hears back from AOL. If you are intrested, here's the post from their blog. And I found the Pure Software Act of 2006 proposal rather intresting also.

I have a lot of friends that still use the antiquated AOL dial-up, when it works.
People like:

My Brother-in-Law, who is afraid that the local authorities might find out he's been priceing 'buck lure', out of season.

Or, my Mom, who has been researching why Aunt Bea's strawberry shortcake is 'lighter & fluffier' than hers.

And my ex-girlfriend from high school, who has been doing extensive research in high school class reunions & high powered rifles with silencers.

I just assure them that they were not part of the 680,000 or so users that the data defines.
Well, that is, maybe just my Brother-in-Law & Mother.

Anyway, as you know, once something is posted to the vast internet, its there forever!
AOL pulled the database within hours, however, it had been mirrored within minutes.
As a service to those 'AOL users that I know ONLY' I am providing a link to those mirrors so that they & their lawyers might glean if their civil rights were violated & at what depth.

And I thought the video was rather ironic, as its a genuine AOL.UK commercial.

Enjoy, if you are able. (That's until Time Warner pulls it!!)

Courtesy Flame Scape Google Video SITE 1 SITE 2


Update washingtonpost.com 3 AOL Subscribers Sue Over Data Release