The America Online MythBuster

Reality:
False

Unlike America Online, we respect your personal privacy as much in the real world as we do online. From your credit card and other billing information to your personal preferences and interests, we enforce the privacy of your account.

If you're using America Online, CompuServe, AOL Instant Messenger or ICQ, you should know that the information you submit for those services is sold to junk mailers and telephone marketers. You should also know that crackers have repeatedly demonstrated that they can break AOL's security and retrieve privleged information, such as credit card numbers.

How did AOL react when they found out that this was going on? Did they immediately alert their users so that they could take protective steps or lock down their systems? No. They kept quiet, deciding that panic is worse for business than honesty.

If you refer to AOL's user agreement and its privacy policies, you will see rather dubious language. Privacy Principle #2: "Our system automatically gathers information about the areas you visit on our service." Privacy Principle #4: "We may use information about the kinds of products you buy from AOL to make other marketing offers to you, unless you tell us not to ..." Other important policies are those such as, "AOL reserves the right to treat as public any private chat room whose directory or room name is published or becomes generally known or available." and "You will be considered in violation of AOL's Terms of Service if you embarrass another member."

At Lynchburg.net, we protect your account and billing information from other users. We do not sell demographic data to junk mailers and spammers, and we don't give out your account information to anyone without your explicit authorization. In short, we respect your privacy and see you as an individual, not a statistic.

Myths:

1. Raising charges 20% while reducing your online time is normal.
2. All Internet Providers have poor customer support.
3. Receiving 100+ e-mails a week from strangers is normal.
4. All Internet Access Providers are harder to use than AOL.
5. AOL offers content that can't be had elsewhere.
6. I have to use AOL to chat or e-mail with other AOL members.
7. Experiencing constant busy signals is normal.
8. Wading through 3 to 6 blinking ads before getting online is normal.
9. Censorship is a normal part of using the Internet.
10. Everyone's private and credit card information is open season to anyone without a search warrant.