Re: AOL Promulgates False Advertising Deliberately

In article <3u7qjd$31s@news4.digex.net> mcgatney@access.digex.net "D. McGatney (hv" writes:

> In article <3u6mci$k99@nyx10.cs.du.edu>, anon2c9e@nyx10.cs.du.edu says-->
>
> >In article <3tsl9u$7t2@newsbf02.news.aol.com>,
> >Cerberus wrote-->
>
> >[ON JULY 4th, AOL deleted all postings on the Scientology folders on AOL
> >which criticized Scientology, leaving all the postings intact by paid
> >salesman who collect a commission on anyone they recruit into their nut
> cult.]
>
> >>Can you guess which ones were deleted by the board monitor? On July
> >>4th, no less. What a sense of timing, huh? Might be wise to delete
> >>"America" from AOL. ...
>
> >... this is clearly a violation of the ASUP.
>
>
> DAwn Replies----->>>
>
>
> AOL has a perfect right to delete all anti-Scientology posts.
You miss the point. Two points, really. 1) The posts that were _not_ deleted may make AOL liable for false medical claims (see the recent NY State Trial Court ruling in the Prodigy case and the 1971 ruling forbidding the church to make medical claims). 2) AOL is not implementing its own ASUP, because it is allowing people with a commercial interest to police a board in such a way as to only leave ads for services in which they have a financial interest. >
> What you now need to ask yourself is this--> Do I want to support such an
> organisation with my $$$$$ month after month after month?
AOL may provide useful services to those who would otherwise have none. Leaving that aside, here is a very strong lever with which to persuade AOL to clean up its act. Boycotts will have limited effect while there is a strong head of pressure of people rushing to their nearest ISP (in many cases AOL) to replace those who defect. The real power lies in the courts. AOL _IS_ placing itself in a vulnerable position. Point this out forcibly enough and Steve Case will have to move his ass. I am not a US citizen, so I cannot just contact the US FDA, but I do think they would be interested in the AIDS post that appeared on AOL, which implied that a scientology exercise known as the False Intention Rundown can turn a HIV-positive person with an extremely low t-cell count (ie an AIDS sufferer) into a HIV-negative. It's a clear breach of the embargo imposed by the US Courts on medical claims by the cult. The recent NY State ruling implies AOL would be liable because the people who weed posts out of the folders are either employees or agents of AOL. If any of you guys on 'sucks' are _really_ interested in burning Steve Case's ass, I suggest you investigate this one. If anyone's interested, email me and I'll repost the relevant documentation. >
> WHY AOL SUCKS--> http://www.cloud9.net/~jegelhof
>
>
>
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