AOL Victorious in Battle Against Spammer -- AOL Files Suit Against Another Junk E-mailer, Squeaky Clean Marketing.

DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 18, 1997--America Online won a significant victory in its battle against spam when Over the Air Equipment Inc., a junk e-mailer that advertised pornographic Web sites, surrendered in its fight against AOL and agreed to an injunction barring it from sending unsolicited e-mail to AOL members.

"Spammers have little regard for the people who receive their solicitations -- a problem that's only magnified when a child is on the receiving end of an objectionable piece of junk e-mail," said AOL chairman and CEO Steve Case. "That's why we're going to continue to use every tool at our disposal to fight against spam and work toward a long-term solution to this problem, which affects all Internet users."

Over the Air Equipment, which until recently was sending AOL members hundreds of thousands of junk e-mails a day advertising its pornographic Web sites, agreed to a court order which prohibits the company from ever sending unsolicited e-mail to AOL members again. Over the Air Equipment also agreed to pay AOL a substantial, but undisclosed, sum of money in damages.

America Online will apply the damages paid in this suit toward supporting industry-wide safety education initiatives aimed at young people and their parents. These initiatives will be a part of a nationwide 1998 back-to-school awareness campaign announced at the December 1997 Internet Online Summit: Focus on Children.

AOL hailed the action as a significant win in its war against junk e-mail. "This is not just a victory for AOL members, but a victory for every Internet user," said George Vradenburg, general counsel at America Online. "The successful resolution of this lawsuit sends a pointed message to junk e-mailers that they will be held responsible for their actions."

The AOL suit, which was filed Oct. 2, 1997, accused Over the Air Equipment of using deceptive practices, including falsifying e-mail transmission data, to avoid AOL's mail controls and to repeatedly transmit vast quantities of unsolicited e-mail to AOL members. E-mail sent to AOL members from Over the Air Equipment included a link to their cyber-stripper offerings on the Web.

The Las Vegas-based Over the Air Equipment agreed to drop its challenge to a preliminary injunction issued on Oct. 31, 1997 by a federal court (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia).

When the preliminary injunction was issued, the judge found that AOL's efforts to block junk e-mail, including its efforts to obtain a court order against Over the Air Equipment, were in the public interest and that there was a substantial likelihood that AOL would prevail on its claims of Trespass and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act against Over the Air Equipment.

"What is clear as we conclude this case is that the law is on our side - and we're going to continue to pursue cases until the message is felt throughout cyberspace that the days of no accountability to individuals and families that use the Internet and the companies that help them do it are over," said Vradenburg.

AOL files an anti-spam suit against Squeaky Clean Marketing

On the heels of its victory against Over the Air Equipment, the company also announced that it has filed another suit against a junk e-mailer. This lawsuit, filed in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Va., alleges that Squeaky Clean Marketing and Cyber Services, both based in Dallas, Ga., ignored repeated requests by AOL to stop sending unsolicited junk e-mail to AOL members.

AOL charges the Squeaky Clean Marketing and Cyber Services have sent millions of pieces of junk e-mail to AOL members resulting in thousands of AOL member complaints.

E-mails from Squeaky Clean Marketing and Cyber Services peddle everything from baldness cures to get-rich-quick schemes. The companies even sell do-it-yourself spamming software to enable other "entrepreneurs" to bombard AOL members with unsolicited junk e-mail.

AOL's suit also charged that both Squeaky Clean Marketing and Cyber Services are employing deceptive mailing practices to evade AOL's junk mail filters, including falsifying e-mail headers and relaying e-mails through third party computer networks to further camouflage the true source of the e-mails.

In addition, AOL's suit alleged that neither company has honored AOL member requests to be taken off their mailing lists.

"Squeaky Clean Marketing is anything but squeaky clean," said Vradenburg. "This company and its affiliate, Cyber Services, refuses to operate in a truthful and honest way. They hawk apparently useless products and pyramid schemes which seem to be designed to dupe unsuspecting recipients of their junk e-mails.

"They refuse to respect the privacy of our members and they trample on our e-mail system as if they are entitled to use AOL e-mail resources to operate their business. We will pursue this suit as vigorously as we pursued our case against Over the Air Equipment and we feel confident that we will enjoy a similar outcome."

AOL's anti-spam campaign: litigation, technology tools, member education

In addition to the suits already detailed, in mid-October, the company filed suit against another junk e-mailer, Prime Data Worldnet Systems Inc. Like Over the Air Equipment, Squeaky Clean Marketing and Cyber Services, Prime Data uses deceptive means of transmission to defeat AOL's mail controls and send thousands of unsolicited e-mails to AOL members.

In addition, Prime Data's mass mailing to AOL members advertised computer software products designed to enable other Internet users to transmit their own junk e-mail to AOL and its members.

In February, ruling on an AOL-filed suit, a federal court in Philadelphia ordered CyberPromotions, Inc., a notorious spamming operation, to cease using fictitious and unregistered domain addresses to send unsolicited e-mail to AOL member addresses.

The court also ordered CyberPromotions to comply promptly with AOL members' requests for removal from its mailing lists, through the e-mail reply command.

Other recent steps in AOL's continuing campaign against spam include the expansion of its Mail Controls(TM) features, enabling members to choose which specific Internet addresses and domains to block -- or accept -- mail from and the launch of an online area (Keyword: Junk Mail) devoted to educating members about unsolicited bulk e-mail, with tips for protecting users from annoying junk e-mail.

AOL is also blocking, wherever possible, unwanted junk e-mail coming its system.

America Online Inc., (NYSE: AOL) based in Dulles, Va., is the world's leading Internet online service, with over 10 million members worldwide.

AOL, founded in 1985, offers its subscribers a wide variety of interactive services including electronic mail, Instant Message features, entertainment, reference, financial information, computing support, interactive magazines and newspapers, as well as easy access to all the services of the Internet.

CONTACT: America Online

Tricia Primrose, 703/265-1746