America Online, Others Sued For Blocking E-Mail

A Rochester, N.Y., online marketing research firm told
Washtech.com this morning it filed a lawsuit against Internet/online
service giant America Online Inc. [NYSE:AOL] and other Internet service
providers (ISPs), alleging that they all are blocking the research firm
from communicating with its members.

Harris Interactive Inc. said it is namely targeting AOL and Redmond,
Wash.-based Microsoft Corp.'s [NASDAQ:MSFT] HotMail for blocking
Harris' e-mail from reaching registered participants who opt-in for
online marketing research. Harris also is charging an antitrust
complaint against Dulles, Va.-based AOL, which operates its own online
market-research company called Digital Marketing Systems (DGS).

"These ISPs are acting as censors or blockers from us communicating
with people who agreed to talk to us," Harris spokesperson Dan Hucko
told Washtech.com. And specifically, "AOL is using its monopoly to
block us from fairly competing with its DGS."

Hucko added that AOL's browser also restricts AOL users from visiting
Harris' Web site as well as communicating with the marketing survey
company.

Washtech.com calls to AOL seeking comment on this story were not
returned by the company in time for Washtech.com's midday deadline.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of
New York, seeks an injunction removing the block on its e-mail, and
monetary damages. Hucko declined to specify how much Harris is seeking,
nor would he put a dollar amount on how much Harris has lost due to the
alleged inability to contact its subscribers.

Other companies named in the lawsuit include Denver-based Qwest
Communications International Inc. and Juno Online Services, Hucko said.

Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC (MAPS), a not-for-profit company based
in Redwood City, Calif., is also named as a defendant in the suit. The
company helps Internet services firms block unwanted mass e-mail,
commonly known as "spam," from reaching their subscribers.

"We don't spam," Hucko said. "We don't send out blanket e-mails." The
company has said MAPS made an "unfair and arbitrary decision" to add
the market research firm to its "Realtime Blackhole List," which
identifies 3,000 alleged spammers and prevents them from communicating
with Internet users.

Harris accuses the ISPs of blocking access to about 2.7 million of
Harris's more than 6.6 million panel members. Hucko said the company
learned about MAPS' spam classification about 10 days ago and tried to
convince the companies named in the lawsuit to change their blocking
set-up for Harris. The timing of the Harris litigation was "totally
unrelated" to AOL's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Inc., the spokesperson said.

Shares of AOL were down $0.375 or about three-quarters of a percent to
$52.875 each around 11:45 a.m. EDT today.

Reported by Washtech.com, http://www.washtech.com.