Lynda

Hmmmm, anyone else seen or heard about this?

Lynda
----- Original Message -----

A friend writes:

The following is information I found in a very reliable, widely respected source, the book "Censored 2001" by Peter Phillips and the Project Censored group. Here's the excerpt:

"America Online's (AOL) youth filters were [found to be] screening out liberal sites with political content. AOL's youth filters are supposed to keep children away from pornography and violence on the Internet, but they also seem to be designed to block out many liberal political organizations and allow conservative sites to fly through the filter with no problem." (From Kristin Kolb, May 29, 2000, "In These Times," quoted in "Censored 2001" by Peter Phillips and Project Censored.)

AOL's version 5.0 software was tested by CNET News. Over several days, CNET monitored more than 100 political sites in the "kids only" mode. They found that AOL's filters consistently allowed children to view conservative political sites (for example, the National Rifle Association) but filtered out liberal and Democratic online locations, including the site of the Democratic National Committee.

Sites that were not strictly conservative didn't get past the filter, according to "Censored 2001." Even attempts to enter Ross Perot's Reform Party, and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence produced the AOL message, "not appropriate for children." Some of this censorship has been corrected, however the filtering system, made by an educational software company owned by Mattel corporation, was originally designed with what turned out to be a conservative bias, whether intentionally or not.

"[The liberal site]ProjectCensored.org, used to be screened out by AOL for youth aged 15 years and under," according to the Project Censored group. Of course, AOL spokesman Rich D'Amato claims he didn't realize the youth filters had a rightwing bias.

It goes without saying the following information is anecdotal and may or may not relate to the above. However, many of my online friends who belong to liberal or progressive-oriented email lists have written to me complaining that *only* the list members who use AOL as their email server fail to receive all mail from the lists. List subscribers using Internet email servers other than AOL have reported they receive all list email.

Both my brother and I subscribe to Online Journal. Lately, my brother always receives Online Journal via his Internet email server, however he doesn't always receive it through AOL, and he often receives only a few but not all of the articles via AOL. In recent weeks, though I subscribe, I almost never receive Online Journal through AOL, not even at the times when my brother gets his Online Journal articles via his Internet server. Needless to say, the problem appears to be from AOL's end and is no fault of Online Journal's.

This week I signed up for a new email server. I've set aside time to write this brief message on behalf of other Online Journal readers and any other online liberals who may happen to know AOL members who are having trouble receiving their progressive-oriented email from various email lists. If you know any such AOL members, you might suggest they find another email server, even if they want to keep their AOL accounts for other purposes.



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[email protected]

We set Holly up with a kid account, and she couldn't get on lots of websites,
including her own. We set her up as an adult instead, and she can get where
she needs to go.

I've never had any problems personally.

Sandra


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