Dear AOL Members: AOL is Censoring YOUR Email ...... And you have never been told...

[L. Coyote]

By Brad Friedman on 4/22/2011 5:57pm - http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8487
Dear AOL Members: AOL is Censoring YOUR Email
And you have never been told...


If you use an AOL email address, AOL is doing you the favor of making sure you do not receive email containing any links to BradBlog.com in it.

Not email from a BradBlog.com address, mind you, as if I were a spammer or something (which, obviously, I'm not), but any email from anybody that has a link to this site, or to one of our news stories.

I learned this swell news early this week when someone was kind enough to let me know that their attempts at sending a link to this site to a friend bounced back to them with an error message. .............

[SugarShack]

1. AOL kicked me off in 05, took all my files, for nothing. no one could help me. glad im gone!

Nor is AOL secure, as I was hacked while working on a presidential campaign. I told everyone that I know, and many still use it. I believe now...all the major servers are collecting data.

[RandomThoughts]

2. Gonzo other program....

[BlueJazz]

3. Chocolate Good, AOL Bad

Never been a fan of AOL anyway. They use to screw people so bad (billing them after discontinuation of service) that it was a down-right sleazy fraud.

[ooglymoogly]

4. You beat me to it...Got this alert in Email just a few minutes ago.

bye,bye AOL

[L. Coyote]

24. This news is viral on Facebook, where privacy is always an issue.

[ooglymoogly]

5. KR nt

[Buzz Clik]

6. Something stinks.

AOL sucks, but this?

I'm sure that some blogger wouldn't pull shit like this just to get attention. It never happened before.

[Generic Other]

40. I just sent myself a link to brad through my yahoo account

AOL is not delivering. I need to delete my account, I guess.

[Buzz Clik]

42. Bizarre. Apparently it is true.

Why the hell would they do that knowing that it would come back to bite them.

Yes, indeed -- delete your account.

[Generic Other]

44. It is possible they have identified too much spam coming from Bradlogs host?

Don't they sometimes block whole domains because of spam activity emanating from one source? That would mean it isn't necessarily just Brad who AOL is blocking.

They have no right to block him for his political position. Once my work got banned by their server for sending too much spam after some hacker somehow used all our email addys to spam the world.

[DCKit]

7. Yeah, 'cause AOL has always been considered to be 100% legitimate.

Had I bought stock, back in 92 when AOL was just getting started, I'd be a millionaire. But I didn't, because I thought they were a sleazy company and would, eventually, face serious charges.

My, how times have changed.

[etherealtruth]

8. I copied and pasted you post into my "work" email

... and sent it to my AOL account ... it was "undeliverable" ... I then tried to forward the undeliverable message to my AOL account ... it too was a no go.

I've used it as it has been convenient for well over a decade (actually well over) ... I suppose I should quit ...but, who do I complain to?

[L. Coyote]

25. Complain to everyone who has an e-mail address ending in @aol.com!!

But, send them a link to the story on some other domain or it will fail.

[1monster]

9. I just sent via one AOL account a bradblog link to another AOL account that I have.

I have kept AOL because I like their e-mail format better than any other I have seen. I am aware that they are not perfect, but their member mail format (as opposed to their Internet based mail format) is really good. I've seen this sort of article before, saying that AOL was blocking certain links to my e-mail, but always found it was not true.

Perhaps those whose e-mails bounced back set their spam settings so that some links were not accepted w/o meaning to block Bradblog. My accountant's e-mails were sent directly to spam until I okayed the e-mails.

[NewEngland4Obama]

10. It works fine for me!!!!!!!!!!!

I just send the link from another AOL account..

[hlthe2b]

15. I just did the same.... no problem..

Someone may be jumping to conclusions, I think....

[etherealtruth]

17. I tried three time

each time it was kicked back as "undeliverable"

[hlthe2b]

19. Explain how you did it...

Did you copy and paste the test into the body of the message?

DId you put bradblog in the subject line?

Other?

It worked for me doing both of the above. No problem whatsoever. So, I have to think there is something going on with your spam filter(s)

[Luminous Animal]

20. Did you send the email from one AOL account to another AOL account?

Because the article states:

"Another AOL user tells me via Twitter: "I just sent from AOL to AOL with your domain and it works; only from outside AOL in fails."

That would explain why my AOL friend was able to receive an email with my domain it from another AOL user, and why my reply to her, quoting the same email, failed. Fail. Fail. AOL. Fail. "

[hlthe2b]

22. Yes.. and I just read the full article on bradblog... so there is something

else clearly going on with emails originating outside AOL. It sounds like he is in corporate red tape hell trying to get something done about it.

I did a quick search of the major central spam blocking data bases and they were not on those publicly available. I hope he can get it sorted out.

[etherealtruth]

23. I copied the text from the OP

... (actually the first few lines including the link) and inserted it into the body of the message.

My subject line read "test"

[Generic Other]

41. I wrote bradblog in the header

and posted his URL in the message. Sent through yahoo. No delivery yet. That is unusual. I am always mailing myself stuff as a handy way of filing it. Links to stuff with notes I want to find later. Never had this problem before.

I keep AOL because it was my first and primary email account. I guess I need a new one.

Any suggestions for best account to switch too?

My Yahoo account is a throw away.

[etherealtruth]

43. I have the same "issue"

My AOL address is the way folk have contacted me for many many years (multiple states and a few countries) .... I'm not really sure what to do

[L. Coyote]

51. Yahoo also blocks certain IP addresses and does not report that the mail is in oblivion.

I had to move my domain to a different host provider to escape a blocked IP block because my host provider parked spammers next to my domain on the same server. I copuld not forward mail from my domain address to Yahoo, and my student's homework was getting sent to the netherworld on non-existence without a notification to me. This is an important heads-up to online instructors--use a college e-mail address to receive assignments because you cannot trust a corporation to deliver e-mail.

[Luminous Animal]

18. As the article states, "Another AOL user tells me via Twitter: "I just sent from AOL to AOL...

with your domain and it works; only from outside AOL in fails."

[L. Coyote]

26. Yes, it works from one AOL to another AOL account, just as Brad reported in the article

you obviously did not read.

[ikri]

11. Two things

People still use AOL? Really?

Secondly, it appears that bradblog.com's email servers (mx.junkemailfilter.com according to the DNS records) are listed on a huge number of spam block lists, including some pretty major ones. If AOL are using any of those block lists (like many ISPs and businesses do) to filter out email from known spam sources then email from bradblog.com is going to be blocked.

I'd check with junkemailfilter.com about what they've allowed to go through their email servers before claiming corporate censorship.

[hlthe2b]

13. I think that is a good point...

I think bradblog has had some website security issues at times... I know that both AVG and PCTools internet security have flagged it on webbrowser screens at various points in time.

[L. Coyote]

28. Hackers have been shutting down BradBlog recently, part of the US Chamber crimes!!

BradBlog = Fri Feb-11-11 12:54 AM
UPDATE: U.S. CHAMBER'S THUGS TARGETED ME & MY FAMILY, NOW BRAD BLOG IS DOWN
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x393202

[L. Coyote]

27. Actually, BradBlog server is Domains by Proxy, Inc.

Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.

and hosted at domain servers in listed order:
NS.REALITY-DNS.COM
NS.REALITY-DNS.NET
NS.REALITY-DNS.ORG

[ikri]

33. Those are just the name servers

Not the MX (Mail) servers.

I don't know whether bradblog.com's email is sent through the MX servers (since they're listed for incoming email), but their listed MX servers are block listed.

[hlthe2b]

12. Can anyone offer a theory on this?

why bradblog? Of all the websites that AOL, as a business, might not favor, why bradblog?

[L. Coyote]

30. Facts and evidence trump theory. BradBlog is a targeted liberal journalism site.

Brad was hosting the Mike Malloy Show for a week, reporting on the thugs working on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's disinfo attacks, and he discovered they were specifically targeting him and his family. This info came out due to Anonymous hacking, if i recall accurately.

See this story: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/02/10/palantir-tries-to-preserve-their-government-contracts/

Palantir Technologies is one of the two other security firms that HBGary partnered with to try to get spying business with Bank of America and the Chamber of Commerce.

[The Second Stone]

14. I wonder if other companies do this to silence political dissent

It's really obnoxious. Anyway, I'd boycott AOL, but I've never done business with them.

[hlthe2b]

16. read posts above... This may NOT be what is going on...

But, having just read the Bradblog article in full, I am concerned....I have written him to suggest he get one of the tech blogs covering the current issues around Iphone/android surreptitious collection of locating data, to take a look at his issue. Concerning...

[L. Coyote]

31. I suggest he move his domain to Network Solutions

Malicious complaints may result in domain blocking too, if the AOL Search feature is used. I wonder if they are also doing that?.

[hobbit709]

21. I've had email rejected by AOL because it contained links they didn't like.

told me in the failed delivery message because it linked to a site they had complaints about. I emailed them that I didn't know that CNN or the NY Times were suspicious websites and who in the hell were they to censor someones email.

Never heard back from them of course.

[laconicsax]

29. People still use AOL?

Is it 1995 again?

[L. Coyote]

32. They offer free e-mail service and allow paying customers to switch to free mail

when they quit the web provider service. That way, they retain a lot of portal users.

[hlthe2b]

34. It is hard to give up an email adress that may be the only link

you have with those you've lost touch with over the years... That is definitely the case with me, based on my time overseas.

[TorchTheWitch]

35. I'm amazed they're still in business

Just how bad does a company have to be before people finally stop using it? AOL/Compuserve is the absolute most horrible IP they could possibly make themselves. It's like they deliberately try to be as aweful in every possible way imaginable on purpose.

[ooglymoogly]

36. A momentary glance inside the fast moving clock of fascism. nt

[A-Schwarzenegger]

37. "Delivery failed" from verizon to netscape.

Netscape's run by AOL now.
Sent OK from netscape to netscape.

[grasswire]

38. I'm getting bradblog emails on my AOL -- have been for years

However, I have to delete them without reading them because something in the bradblog mail locks up my computer and I have to reboot.

[Initech]

39. I used AOL for like 10 minutes 10 years ago and that was all I could take.

[Quantess]

46. AOL is the worst!

It sucked 10 years ago, and I doubt it's improved much since then. The news articles on the home page were so boneheaded, and slightly conservative.

Is it cheaper than other internet services, or something? I don't understand why anyone still uses AOL.

[leveymg]

45. Sent 2 emails to my AOL account from my GMail acct - the one w/the Bradblog link didn't make it

This is for real. It doesn't show up in the AOL spam file. It just doesn't show up.

[L. Coyote]

48. This is the consistent story. How much of this goes on unknown and undetected in the background AND

what other kinds of "reading" every single e-mail sent is also going on.

[leveymg]

50. I've noticed that I'm not getting a lot of smaller political listserves and emags on AOL anymore.

I noticed a big drop-off several months ago.

This may be systematic by AOL, and perhaps some other email companies.

I would not be at all surprised if there's a concerted effort to censor email messaging along ideological lines. The FCC appears to not be policing or enforcing what few (if any) protections there may be to censorship disguised as spam prevention.

This is an issue to pressure the Obama Administration and Senate Committees about.

[Keith Bee]

47. Ah, for the halcyon days of privacy.......

...when a man could masturbate compulsively to porn without worrying that his webcam was secretly recording him.

Sorry, I...I'm getting a little misty with nostalgia :cry:

[L. Coyote]

49. IMPLICATION: AOL is "reading" every single e-mail they handle! Think about it, there is

an application that electronically reads the content of every single e-mail they handle.

So, how else is this program employed?