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CompuServe wins injunction against junk e-mail company
October 25, 1996
Web posted at: 10:20 p.m. EDTCOLUMBUS, Ohio (CNN) -- CompuServe, one of the nation's largest on-line companies, said Friday it had won a temporary restraining order preventing Cyber Promotions, Inc. from sending junk e-mail to its subscribers.
The order, issued by the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Ohio, forbids Cyber Promotions from using CompuServe to send or receive electronic mail. It also ordered the firm to stop using any reference to CompuServe accounts or equipment.
According to the restraining order, the company had sent hundreds of thousands of unsolicited electronic advertisements to Internet users on a daily basis, and had configured its computers to falsely indicate that the computers were owned or operated by CompuServe.
The order also said that Cyber Promotions had given itself a CompuServe address. Thousands of the e-mails were undeliverable, and were automatically routed back to CompuServe, whose computers were bogged down, slowing the on-line service to a crawl.
CompuServe argued that allowing Cyber Promotions to continue to send e-mail through its system would damage the on-line service, frustrating subscribers who pay for access to the service and their e-mail according to how long they spend on-line. The court agreed.
"CompuServe's number one job is providing our users with the best on-line experience available. This is just one step in working to manage the problem of unsolicited or junk e-mail for our users," said Denny Matteucci, president of Interactive Services for CompuServe.
"Our users have told us they don't want junk mail clogging their mailboxes and, frankly, neither do I. Junk mail is as unwelcome in cyberspace as it is through the postal service."
Another on-line service ends total junk mail ban
America Online, one of the top on-line services in the United States, claims that the top complaint from its users is junk e-mail. In the past, it had blocked all junk e-mail to all AOL accounts from a limited number of sites that had generated large numbers of customer complaints.
However, some of its users actually want to receive mass e-mailings, so AOL unveiled a new feature Thursday that would help them keep unsolicited items out of their e-mail boxes.
PreferredMail prevents the receipt of e-mails from a regularly updated list of notorious junk e-mailers. The company said that members who want to receive junk e-mail can turn the tool off. "PreferredMail is a great solution to the problem of junk e-mail, because it gives members a choice," said America Online CEO Steve Case.
CompuServe and Cyber Productions are scheduled to return to court December 5 for a hearing on CompuServe's motion that the injunction be made permanent.
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