America Online Inc recently changed its Terms of Service to require its members to opt-out of marketing campaigns every year, rather than permitting them to opt out once for all time. Now rival EarthLink Networks Inc has announced plans to capitalize on that notable piece of tactlessness. EarthLink is offering AOL customers a free month of service, and says it will donate $50 to the Electronic Privacy Information Center for every AOL subscriber that takes it up on its offer. If that’s not enough to persuade AOLers to abandon the nest, EarthLink will provide defectors with change-of-address notifications and an AOL Graduates’ guide. EarthLink has always placed a premium on members’ privacy, boasted president and CEO Garry Betty. We go out of our way to protect it and would never jeopardize the trust our members have placed in us as their internet service provider.
