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AOL Privacy Scandal Update: Some Good News |
| By John Aravosis
Wired Strategies
As you know, someone broke into my America Online (AOL)
account a few days ago, and got a hold of all of my screen names,
and more. When I called AOL to find out what was going on, I was
immediately informed that AOL refused to believe I'd been hacked
- even though I had proof positive that I was at a meeting, and then
on a long distance call to Italy, at the exact time the person was
using my account.
What's worse, rather than take seriously a member's call notifying them of a privacy violation, AOL informed me they put a "warning" in my file saying I may have been involved in "illegal" activity - in essence blaming me for what the hacker did.
Eisner asked that I keep the contents of our call off-the-record, so we could have a frank discussion, and I will respect that. I can say that the call seemed to go very well, and I was promised that AOL would get back to me on Monday August 9, detailing how they will respond to my concerns about my AOL record - but more importantly - how they will address the larger issues of whether AOL is concerned about members' privacy, and whether they will continue to blacken members' good names by blaming them for the actions of hackers. For more information on the issue, you can read my update from earlier this week ( www.wiredstrategies.com/mugged.html ). Thank you all for your help on this, and stay tuned. |
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