AOL has something they call an Email Feedback Report. ISPs can register with AOL so they’ll be notified any time an email message is reported as spam. Unfortunately for the sender, the entire contents of the message are left intact for the ISP to review. The Email Feedback Report protects the identity of the recipient, but not the sender. Therefore, any message reported to AOL as spam (either rightly or wrongly) gets sent to the sender’s ISP.

What does this potentially mean? It means that a sender’s love notes, racist or sexist jokes and personal and business information are revealed to the sender’s ISP if that message is reported as spam.

We try to inform our customers when a message has been returned to us by AOL. In MOST of the cases, the sender reports back that the recipient did NOT (either intentionally or accidentally) mark their message as spam. Therefore, we’re making the assumption that there’s some flaw in AOL’s mail system that tags messages as spam in error.

Because we see several of these a week, my own personal policy is to never send anything I would want to have kept confidential to people with AOL email addresses.

I just wanted to pass this along so people will be aware and take steps to maintain their privacy.

We, at ConnectNC, have always had a passion for Internet Safety for kids and adults.  About 6 years ago we offered a filtering service called Bess.  It allowed us to actually filter at our data center before a dialup or DSL customer even received input from a website.  The controls were saved here via an interface on the customer’s computer. It was a really neat thing that could’ve helped a lot of families.  However, we were ahead of our time and had to cancel the service due to the costs involved that we just weren’t recouping at that point.  We now have joined up with a few non-profit organizations to help spread the message and education about Internet Safety to kids in schools in our area of Southern Pines and Pinehurst, NC.  If your school is interested in having us come and spread the Internet Safety education please feel free to contact us.
With all the community groups online, chatting, email involving sexual exploitation, harrassment, bullying occuring now, Internet Safety is on the forefront of peoples’ minds and souls.

I have 2 kids who use the Internet.  I talk to them on a daily basis about the risks but also about the positive gains from doing so.  It is one of my passions to help other parents understand how to be aware of risks and avoid potential issues before they occur, and to teach kids about the joys and dangers of Internet usage.  I have a Girl Scout troop and believe me – the girls have heard this from me many times and will continue to do so.  And at the ages of 8-10 they are SO interested and ask many ‘what if’ questions that it thrills me!

I will continue to blog about Internet safey, as well as the positive aspects of joining communities online.  The balance, just like everything else in life, is what must be achieved.