FC: AOL again blocks Trillian instant messaging users

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Fri Feb 15 2002 - 07:04:49 PST

  • Next message: Declan McCullagh: "FC: DOJ releases public comments on MS deal: All 47 of them"

    ---
    
    Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 09:42:24 -0500
    To: politechat_private
    From: "B.K. DeLong" <bkdelongat_private>
    Subject: AOL officially blocking Trillian users
    
    Hey Declan -
    
    I'm not sure if anyone on Politech is a big fan of IM software but a while 
    ago I found this great software called Trillian (http://www.trillian.cc) 
    that would let me be logged into my ICQ and AOL IM account with the same 
    interface at the same time. Not only that, but they had a SecureIM feature 
    that would encrypt the traffic between users. And for the hell of it, 
    (since I had a Yahoo account from all the yahoogroups I'm subscribed to and 
    a MS Passport account for...well, god knows what) I added YahooIM and MS 
    Messenger. You can even be logged onto IRC using it as well.
    
    Now it's a free program - they only ask for donations. When AOL "fixed" 
    their gaming bug a while back, (http://www.aim.com/resolved.adp) it would 
    not allow Trillian users to log into AOL. Trillian fixed the problem with 
    an update and patch.
    
    Well, this morning AOL did it again. But this time, we got a blatant 
    message before being disconnected:
    
    "[09:22] AOL Instant Messenger: You have been disconnected from the AOL 
    Instant Message Service (SM) for accessing the AOL network using 
    unauthorized software.  You can download a FREE, fully featured, and 
    authorized client, here http://www.aol.com/aim/download2.html ."
    
    Which is bullshit. AOLIM Doesn't have nearly the AOLIM features that 
    Trillian has and I'm PISSED that AOL wants me to use a more insecure 
    product over an innovative one that provided more of a degree of security, 
    logging etc. This sooo smacks of anti-competitive practices.
    
    Am I right? Who's working on a anti-trust case against AOL? Sign me up, dammit.
    
    --
    B.K. DeLong
    bkdelongat_private
    617.877.3271
    
    http://www.brain-stream.com               Play.
    http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org        Potter.
    http://www.attrition.org                       Security.
    http://www.artemisiabotanicals.com     Herb.
    
    
    
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
    You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
    Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
    To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
    This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Feb 15 2002 - 07:16:53 PST