The America Online MythBuster

Reality:
False

Using America Online leaves you wide-open to one of the least desirable facets of direct marketing: spam. Spam, in short, is unsolicited commercial e-mail; that is, the electronic version of junk mail. It clogs mail servers, raises costs, and annoys its targets. Even worse, unlike postal junk mail, it is the recipient, not the sender, that pays the brunt of the cost of spam.

The big problem is that AOL provides easy access to huge directories of its members. These directories are designed to allow you to look up the e-mail address of that friend you just met online, etc., but AOL does little to prevent such lists from being harvested for e-mail addresses to bulk mail.

In addition to this, AOL provides large chat forums that use your real screen name. This means that if someone sees you chatting on AOL's chat rooms, they automatically know your e-mail address (for example, if they see the screen name JSmith chatting, then they automatically know that his e-mail address is JSmith@aol.com). You can imagine how easy it would be to sit in AOL's chat rooms and just watch and collect e-mail addresses.

We do not believe your contact information should be obtained without your permission. If you are a customer of Lynchburg.net, the only way anyone has your e-mail address or any other contact information is if you have made it accessible to them. Don't want people in online chat and discussion forums to know your real e-mail address? Then don't put one in your communications software. It's that easy.

At Lynchburg.Net, we believe in and act on keeping your e-mail private. From having our own server killfile to permanently kill junk e-mail before it hits you, to helping you set up your own mail filters to prevent unwanted e-mail, we return control of your Internet experience to you.

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.