CompuServe, AOL Target Junk E-mail

CompuServe received a temporary restraining order Tuesday from the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Ohio, preventing Cyber Promotions from sending e-mail that is falsely identified as coming from CompuServe, said Gail Whitcomb, a CompuServe spokeswoman. CompuServe plans to follow up that legal action in December with a request to be allowed to block unsolicited mass e-mailings, Whitcomb said.

%dquot The problem from our users%squot standpoint is that they have to pay to receive this (junk e-mail),%dquot Whitcomb said. %dquotIt isn%squott just time- consuming.%dquot

Cyber Promotions president Sanford Wallace said his company opened a legitimate CompuServe account more than a year ago and used it to send the bulk e-mailings in question. %dquotCompuServe has made it appear as if it was a fraudulent account, but that was actually the account that we paid thousands of dollars to use,%dquot Wallace said, adding that he does not believe CompuServe%squots blocking attempt will be successful in court. %dquot That%squots equivalent to giving the post office the right to censor one%squots mail,%dquot Wallace said.

Cyber Promotions is already involved in litigation with AOL for blocking the marketing company%squots mass e-mailings, Wallace said. A trial in that case had been set for Nov. 12, Wallace said, but the judge postponed the trial to rule on the central constitutional issue in the case: whether the First Amendment gives Cyber Promotions a right to send the e-mail, and whether AOL has First Amendment rights to block it.

Meanwhile, America Online announced today that it will enable users to screen out junk e-mail. With the Preferred Mail tool, users can pick which mass mailings they do and do not want to receive from a list of known mass mailers, said Andrew Graziani, an AOL spokesman.

AOL stopped blocking junk e-mail after Cyber Promotions was granted a restraining order, though the restraining order was overturned by a higher court last month. The company still believes, however, that %dquotit has the right to protect its members from this kind of junk e-mail,%dquot Graziani said. %dquotAOL also believes it%squots important to put the control in members%squot hands.%dquot

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