Bay Windows - National News, October 28, 1999
Peter Cassels, Bay Windows staff

The accusations were made the week of Oct. 17 on the web sites of American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), NationalGayLobby.Org and HateWatch after a gay subscriber reported that the company prevented him from including sexually explicit information in his profile, where members can write descriptions of themselves. The profiles can be accessed by any subscriber. AOL hosts hundreds chat rooms, many of them "m4m," in which gay subscribers can talk and arrange personal meetings.

The complainant's profile had described him as being a "7.5 cut submissive bottom." In an Oct. 11 e-mail message, AOL had informed him that the words violated its Terms of Service (TOS) agreement, with which all subscribers must agree to comply. The TOS states that "It is essential that [content created by members] reflects our community standards, and we may remove it if, in our best judgment, it does not meet those standards." AOL advised him that the wording represented a violation of TOS guidelines because "the use of vulgar or sexually oriented language, sexually explicit images, harassment, discussion of illegal activities, and/or other activities that may impair their enjoyment of our members." The message also informed him that a written warning had been entered in his customer record and that further violations within the next six months may result in termination of his account.

The subscriber contacted the ACLU's Ft. Worth, Tex., chapter. Noting that the words used in the profile are "far more tame than many that AOL allows for heterosexuals," chapter president Frank Provasek told news media: "We're concerned there is a double standard being applied to gay members of AOL. You can't say you're a submissive bottom, but then there are plenty of examples of nongays who list 'killing fags' as their hobbies."

Wired Strategies, an Internet consulting firm in Washington, D.C., conducted an informal survey which reportedly turned up hundreds of objectionable AOL profiles, including one which said the member "liked his beer cold and fags dead," and another which listed the member's hobby as "fag bashing."

Subsequently, John Aravosis, Wired Strategies president, posted a list of 34 anti-black, anti-gay, anti-Christian and anti-Jewish member profiles on his web site at http://www.wiredstrategies.com. AOL said Oct. 21 in a CNet web site article that it had taken "appropriate action." On Oct. 22, Aravosis confirmed that they had been deleted.

In an Oct. 15 news release, NationalGayLobby.Org said it has asked AOL to clarify its policies, but thus far has provided no response. "While AOL shares responsibility for a gay man's discharge from the Navy [a reference to former Chief Petty Officer Timothy McVeigh], helps to reinforce anti-gay stereotypes with its thesaurus, and puts 'terms of service violations' in its gay users' permanent records, accessible by law enforcement authorities, the company apparently allows its presumably heterosexual members to place suggestive references and terroristic statements aimed at gays in their own profiles with impunity," the release stated. "At least we must presume AOL allows such conduct by its heterosexual members, since such references exist in numerous profiles and AOL will not make its policy on such matters public."

The organization invited gays to participate in a survey that would be used to decide whether a boycott of AOL would be launched. On Oct. 21, one AOL subscriber sent the group an e-mail message alleging that "I tried to access your web site to participate in the poll, but AOL gave me a domain security warning and refused to launch your script."

In an interview with Bay Windows, Aravosis also said AOL appears to be practicing a double standard. "Many gay people feel that AOL takes a very stern hand with them for the profiles but don't go after people for using violent speech," he said. An attorney, Aravosis added that TOS violations are part of subscribers' permanent records and are subpoenable by courts of law. "Prosecutors are having a field day going after people's Internet records, [which may contain] violations for using hateful or sexually oriented speech. To that degree, TOS violations are important because they could defame the reputations of subscribers."

Aravosis also is concerned, he explained, because the Internet is a new medium, AOL is its largest provider, and it is setting precedents which could result in "messy policy."

The controversy is the latest in a series of criticisms of the on-line service's treatment of gays.

Aravosis reported in July that AOL kicked a subscriber out of a gay-oriented chat room for asking a question about safe sex, according to three witnesses who were in the chat room at the time. "Dave," a 33-year-old California gay man, had posed a question about the risk of HIV infection from a specific sex act and asked if the virus weakened once it is exposed to air. At the urging of chat room participants, he explained the specific sex act he had engaged in. A chat room "guide," a volunteer who monitors chat rooms, told "Dave" that the description violated the TOS agreement and suspended him from engaging in chat for one hour.

He offered another example, one in which he was personally involved:

Aravosis said he received e-mail from AOL on Aug. 2 suggesting that, using his "screen name" (his AOL online identity), he recently entered a chat room that was "reportedly being used for illegal purposes in violation of AOL's Terms of Service (TOS)." He said he was told that "members found in these rooms may lose their AOL membership without further warning."

Aravosis contacted AOL and found out that their records showed his account was used to enter a chat room that is notorious for "illegal activity" (software piracy). When pressed, the AOL representative told him that his most recent violation occurred at a time on Aug. 2 when he was in the middle of an hour-long phone call to Italy. Aravosis determined that either AOL was not telling him the truth or someone has stolen his e-mail account.

"Then the other shoe dropped," he said. "The AOL rep told me that I now had a violation in my 'permanent record' and if I got two more violations I could be kicked off AOL permanently. When asked for a copy of that record, I was turned down. When I asked them to delete the warning, as this was obviously a case where my account had been stolen, I was told deletions were impossible."

Rich D'Amato, an AOL spokesperson, denied the allegations during an Oct. 22 interview with Bay Windows. "We do not do any monitoring of our members," he said. "With 18 million, that's a physical and technical impossibility."

Instead, he explained, AOL relies on subscribers to report TOS violations. "We believe it is our responsibility to review such reports, then make a decision on whether to take action." He noted that member profiles include a "Notify AOL" button through which members who find offensive wording can forward the profile to the company's community action team, who are all employees, and add any comments of their own. "Only an AOL employee may action an account," he explained, adding that such action is taken only after reviewing the TOS.

AOL, D'Amato emphasized, is a private enterprise, much like a telephone company, and observes the same kind of privacy policies. If a phone company gets a customer complaint about obscene calls, he pointed out, it acts on the complaint. Because such calls are illegal, it will attempt to identify the caller and prosecute. "We are a different medium but we believe we have obligations, too," he said.

He confirmed that AOL has filters which prevent subscribers from including offensive words in profiles. When a subscriber tries to type in one of those words, AOL automatically sends a message stating that they violate the TOS. Asked what words are filtered out, D'Amato was unable to provide a complete list, but stated that the "famous seven" four-letter words, "nigger" and "kike" are among them.

Asked if "faggot" is included, he said it is not. "We try to achieve a balance, and I've had the opportunity to look in many places in online gay communities. I find that words used within the community. In implementing [TOS] and using that list, which we don't want to be tremendously long, we want people the freedom to communicate."

D'Amato said that while there are words reasonable people would view as derogatory, he doesn't believe "faggot" is among them. "I've seen personal ads using the word."

He acknowledged that AOL is not perfect. "I will not pretend that there are never mistakes," he said, alluding to decisions prompted by subscriber complaints, but added that they are risks that come "in building the community by involving itself."

He also commented on accusations of defamatory comments on subscribers that could find their way to the courts. AOL has different policies regarding court subpoenas for civil and criminal cases. "We [release] customer records under a valid legal process," D'Amato explained. "For some records, such as subpoenas or search warrants issued in criminal proceedings, the threshold is significantly higher." When courts issue subpoenas involving criminal charges, AOL does not notify subscribers involved. It does, however, inform members when records are subpoenaed for civil cases. "We give them two weeks under which they can challenge the request."

AOL, he pointed out, does have a large customer base in the gay and lesbian community: "We have a very active online glbt community. We have areas of services programmed by various companies that are directly aimed at serving the community."

One example is the relationship between AOL and PlanetOut, the leading gay and lesbian online portal. On Oct. 18, they announced an alliance in which PlanetOut would make its services and content available to all AOL and CompuServe (now owned by AOL) subscribers and non-subscribers who access some AOL services. PlanetOut also becomes a permanent part of AOL's "People Connection" and "Hometown" community and chat areas.
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