This article appears in the February issue of Guns & Ammo. Since it was written by someone else, and forwarded by a third party, I don't feel the need to "ask permission" to copy it. Credits are given.
AOL DECLARES GUNS PORNOGRAPHY
Sharp G&A readers have noticed that Jim Supica, owner of the Old Town Station Dispatch Ltd., occasionally loans us an antique firearm for our photo layouts. He is a Federal Firearms License holder, and runs an honest, above-board business.
It must have come as a complete surprise when America Online summarily removed his website from it's system and sent the following e-mail to his account address. AOL wrote: "We have become aware of a web page site that is part of your account. This web page violates Hometown AOL's Community Standards, which prohibits sexually explicit graphics, links to other sites which Hometown deems offensive, harassment, the use of vulgar or sexually oriented language, discussion of illegal activities, and/or other activities that may impair the enjoyment of our community's members."
"We have place a note of this incident on your account history and consider this a first warning. We have removed all the file(s) from your web page/ftp site. A second occurrence will result in termination of your account with no chance of reactivation."
Although AOL has a right to say yes or no to the types of web pages it permits, it seems a bit strong to call gun dealers pornographers. "I've heard from the other dealers who got the same form letter and no-warning boot from AOL," Supica said. "I mainly want to get on with my business with the least possible hassle. AOL's decision to dump gun dealer sites did not bother me as much as the manner in which they did it."
Thanks to Bill Clede of the Shotgun News for the story, and to the Hodgdon Powder Co. for forwarding the information. (And to Guns & Ammo for reprinting it)
For those of you who think that the topic of guns is "pornographic", or "impairs your enjoyment", just keep pumping those checks off to AOL
AOL DECLARES GUNS PORNOGRAPHY
Sharp G&A readers have noticed that Jim Supica, owner of the Old Town Station Dispatch Ltd., occasionally loans us an antique firearm for our photo layouts. He is a Federal Firearms License holder, and runs an honest, above-board business.
It must have come as a complete surprise when America Online summarily removed his website from it's system and sent the following e-mail to his account address. AOL wrote: "We have become aware of a web page site that is part of your account. This web page violates Hometown AOL's Community Standards, which prohibits sexually explicit graphics, links to other sites which Hometown deems offensive, harassment, the use of vulgar or sexually oriented language, discussion of illegal activities, and/or other activities that may impair the enjoyment of our community's members."
"We have place a note of this incident on your account history and consider this a first warning. We have removed all the file(s) from your web page/ftp site. A second occurrence will result in termination of your account with no chance of reactivation."
Although AOL has a right to say yes or no to the types of web pages it permits, it seems a bit strong to call gun dealers pornographers. "I've heard from the other dealers who got the same form letter and no-warning boot from AOL," Supica said. "I mainly want to get on with my business with the least possible hassle. AOL's decision to dump gun dealer sites did not bother me as much as the manner in which they did it."
Thanks to Bill Clede of the Shotgun News for the story, and to the Hodgdon Powder Co. for forwarding the information. (And to Guns & Ammo for reprinting it)
For those of you who think that the topic of guns is "pornographic", or "impairs your enjoyment", just keep pumping those checks off to AOL