Jordanne Holyoak, Media Director: jordanh@iquest.net Richard R. Becker: copy89108@aol.com Mailing address: CCA, c/o Jordanne B. P.O. Box 33063, Indianapolis, IN 46203 Davids To Take On Goliath Writers, Poets And Journalists To Take on AOL Actions speak louder than words. In a letter addressing its 4 million members, Steve Case, president and CEO of America Online (AOL), wrote, "Our strong belief is that we can accomplish the important goal of protecting children from inappropriate material without compromising privacy or free speech by empowering parents with a set of easy-to-use technologies and tools that allow parents to choose the content that their children can access." At the same time, AOL released new Terms of Service (TOS) and Rules of the Road (ROR) for members to abide by or lose their accounts. "To date, I have never seen more restrictive TOS guidelines on AOL," says Holyoak, spokesperson for the Creative Coalition on AOL. "AOL's new TOS guidelines completely compromise free speech." The Creative Coalition on AOL (CCA) was founded by a little more than a dozen poets and writers that became concerned about AOL policies when several of their posted poems were removed from the boards and AOL representatives issued TOS violation warnings. Too many TOS warnings or violations in an unspecified area of time, or even one time in some cases, can cause a subscriber to be barred from AOL's service. "Our immediate reaction was to test what words AOL disagreed with," says Holyoak. "Several of us posted poems we knew would be 'TOSed,' but there were also many well-structured poems with redeeming qualities." In order to explore exactly what was permissible art on-line, one of the writers who became interested in the poets' complaint, posted a Merriam- Webster's Collegiate Dictionary definition that AOL provides in its Reference area. The posting earned the writer a TOS warning and the post was removed from the area these artists had created to explore free speech on AOL, aptly titled WWIII. Under the profane and vulgar provisions of AOL, CCA says even classic literature cannot be quoted without fear of TOS violations. And, new TOS and ROR guidelines have expanded those provisions to encompass anything that AOL, or any member of their service, does not agree with. Since the first WWIII folder was created, members of AOL have filled the folder with comments (which was only allowed 450 posts at one point) three times over. Combined, the amount of posts are roughly equivalent to 3 novel-sized manuscripts. Recently, in perhaps an unprecedented move, the group decided to become organized and founded the CCA on the very server censoring them. "We tried individually writing Steve Case and other AOL representatives on-line, but largely, AOL ignored us. That's when we knew we had to become organized," explains Holyoak. "We decided to increase our membership, educate people about the importance of free speech, and try to convince AOL to provide a Free Speech area for literary pursuits. All we're really asking is to be able to speak without the fear of being silenced." CCA feels that private industries that promote themselves as a community should regard free speech with the same vigor as the Constitution. Otherwise, Holyoak says, attacks on individuals who are different will run wild over the Internet under the guise of private industry rights. "Perhaps it already is," she said, citing a recent American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) release that reads: "It appears that AOL's arbitrary standards may be a little homophobic. While "Wet and Wild" was an unacceptable title in a gay video catalog, AOL ran an ad in Downtown AOL for Affinity Teleproductions, Inc. that read: "Now you can join exotic Anna Nicole Smith on her sensuous Edenquest adventure in her exclusive photo portfolio.... Anna Nicole Smith "The Collectors Set" features ten eye opening Edenquest photographs in vivid color.... It's all Anna Nicole Smith wet and wild drenched in sun and powder sugar sand. "With Love, Anna Nicole" is your personal trip to paradise with the world's most exciting woman in her most provocative photos ever." Other words banned by AOL (that AOL accepted payment for and allowed to run for 4 weeks of its one year contract) in a gay video ad included: "pleasure," "black," "hard," "boys," "jock," "Rican," "sex," "stud," "straight," "young."" Holyoak also says, "AOL constantly solicits its members to participate in debates and then censors those views or words that they don't agree with. Additionally, AOL continually contradicts itself by advertising "Cybersex" to people of all ages, but then claims to have "family values" in regard to a poem about oppression." Currently, officers of CCA are appealing to other groups such as the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to assist their cause, saying that CCA hopes they're as aggressive about free speech as they appear to be. Additionally, the group is studying court rulings on free speech to build what will be an undeniable case that AOL cannot ignore. The goal in this is not to bring class action against AOL, but that their research will glean some information that will open AOL's eyes or least the eyes of CCA's critics. "We're continually pressured to give up and resign our AOL accounts by some on-line members," says Holyoak. "But we feel we have a right to request customer service and refuse to 'sit at the back of the bus' because we have different views than AOL." Although CCA has yet to create a physical address (as it was formed on- line), its officers welcome supporters who do not subscribe to AOL by sending Email to "CCA MEM@aol.com." Additionally, there is no membership fee to join this organization and it does not accept monetary donations.