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Petition to AOL for a TOS-Free Area
This is a petition to AOL and Writer's Digest to provide the free-speech area we have been requesting for 3 months. To sign the petition, e-mail me, PoetRebel@aol.com with the message "I am signing the petition." The petition, and all of the "signatures" will be sent to AOL and Writer's Digest, the owner of the Writer's Club area.
We, the undersigned, in cooperation with The Creative Coalition on America Online (CCA), whether a member of this organization or not, do hereby protest the censorship of our voices inflicted by the Terms of Service (TOS) policy of America Online. We protest the infringement of this policy on our Civil Rights and, as artists, cannot stand aside while we are robbed of the only tools we have -- words and the ability to use them in the way we must. As C.S. Lewis stated "Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love of goodness or joy worth having." AOL's TOS policy suffocates both love and joy. We cannot, in good conscience, stand by and watch AOL rip away and destroy the very fabric of our work by choosing our words for us. We will not remain idle while our voices are being crushed by the censor's hammer. Nor should we allow hypocrisy to exist unchecked. AOL claims to be fighting government censorship at the same time it censors its own members. AOL says it believes in Freedom of Speech. We say: PROVE IT! Free us from the hammer of your own censorship policy. Provide an area for all artists to post their work without the fear of being silenced. |