AOL Declares War On Spam

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 5, 1998 / 3:41 PM EST / CBS MarketWatch

America Online Chief Executive Steve Case said Thursday that junk e-mail ads are a "huge cost and burden" on his company.

He told a Jupiter Communications conference that AOL is adopting a "block and tackle" strategy against so-called spammers that will take place at the gateway to AOL's site and in the courts. And he vowed to take the anti-spam message to Washington.

Yet AOL's drive to protect its some 13 million members from spam raised some eyebrows at the Internet conference because it comes just as the company is beefing up its own advertising efforts on the Web.

AOL subscribers are barraged with paid ads when they log onto the service, forcing them to respond to each screen before they can read their own e-mail.

Case "is declaring war on the people that are taking money from his pocket," said Evan Neufeld, an senior analyst for online advertising at Jupiter consultants. "They should declare war on their own spam. They've got to cool it with the more aggressive-type ads."

Even after raising its monthly access fees over the $20 a month threshold, AOL is trying to leverage its sizable online audience to gain more advertising dollars. Most Internet analysts have long agreed that providers like AOL and other ISPs can't earn enough profits by merely offering access.

Case said that AOL has sent out about 500 "cease and desist" letters to spammers in recent months. "We've seen two more legal victories in this effort to control spam," Case said. "We're beginning to see some success." AOL intends to publish a "10 Most Wanted" list of Internet spammers.

"This is a huge problem. It is a huge source of annoyance to our customers," he said. "We're working on possible legislation to deal with this."

AOL's anti-spam stance is part of the company's overall approach toward tidying up its position on some of the pressing consumer issues on the Net, like children's access to pornography and privacy protections. Case on Thursday repeated his call for Internet companies to take consumers concerns seriously for the health of the industry.

Internet companies should do more than try to fend off lawmakers on a host of online issues, he urged. "We need to be much more aggressive on this front," he said. The number of Internet-related bills in front on Congress last year rose to 151 from 25 two years ago.