FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 27, 2004

9/11 Family Group Leader Bill Doyle from Staten Island had his AOL account suspended last week; AOL computers automatically categorized him as a Spammer because over 3,000 families receive information from his email distribution lists

Schumer – a leading anti-spam advocate in Congress – asked AOL to fix problem and let key forum for 9/11 families continue operating

AOL pulled Doyle from spam list and placed on "White List" so he can still communicate with 9/11 victims families
US Senator Charles E. Schumer today thanked America Online for ensuring that Mr. Bill Doyle, a Staten Island 9/11 father, can continue to use his AOL account to send emails to other 9/11 families. Last week, Mr. Doyle was wrongly flagged as a spammer because he was sending emails to over 3,000 9/11 families who had asked to join his distribution lists to receive valuable information regarding their situations.

"I would like to thank AOL for renewing Mr. Doyle's full free access to AOL and finding a solution for his email needs," said Schumer. "Now he can continue keeping 9/11 victim families informed of services unique to their situations. AOL should be commended for their policies to fight spam, and in this case the special attention they gave Mr. Doyle so that 9/11 victims families can clearly and freely communicate with each other."

Bill Doyle of Staten Island lost his son Joey Doyle, who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald, on September 11. Mr. Doyle is on the board of several 9/11 victim family groups, and has become a one-person resource center for 9/11 victims and families. Shortly after 9/11, Mr. Doyle began sharing information about social service providers, legal resources, filing deadlines, 9/11 family-support groups, family gatherings, trips to Washington and elsewhere, and scholarships for children who lost family on 9/11 through emails from his AOL account. His mailings quickly became widely popular – over 3,200 people have asked to be put on his lists.

Mr. Doyle used AOL as his Internet Service Provider since he began his work for the families of 9/11. Last week, Mr. Doyle's account was suspended by AOL. AOL employees told Mr. Doyle that his account had been flagged because of the volume of emails being sent and that AOL suspected he was a spammer. After Mr. Doyle explained his work, AOL agreed that he was not a spammer and that he would be put on AOL's "white list" of senders whose email would be cleared through AOL's system.

The following day, when Mr. Doyle had not been notified that he could resume sending information to the families, Schumer staff contacted AOL to inquire about the status of his service. AOL officials explained that Mr. Doyle was now on the white list, but that was only a temporary solution and would not truly serve his needs because it would require him to send mail to the families in groups instead of all at once. If even less that one percent of the recipients' email systems classify Mr. Doyle's mail as spam, that is still enough to raise an automatic red flag at AOL.

Schumer today wrote to AOL Chairman and CEO Jonathan Miller, thanking him for fixing Mr. Doyle's problem and finding a way to allow him to continue to send the messages that so many families have come to rely on.

"I am happy to learn that you have provided Mr. Doyle with free access to AOL and a solution for his email needs," said Schumer. "I am particularly impressed with the dedication of your staff who spent several hours on the phone with Mr. Doyle setting up a list-serve. Mr. Doyle tells my staff that your efforts will now free up more of his time for the case work he does for families because you have helped to streamline his process of sending emails."

Email spam is any form of unsolicited email that users receive from commercial sources. The most common forms of spam include advertisements for online gambling services, pornography, herbal remedies or financial schemes, many of which are fraudulent in nature.

In December, President Bush signed anti-spam legislation authorizing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create a no-spam email registry modeled after US Senator Charles E. Schumer's legislation. Schumer's registry bill was included in the CAN SPAM bill that also imposes criminal penalties and fines on repeat spammers. Schumer's program requires the FTC to deliver a plan to Congress for creating a no-spam registry within six months and authorizes it to implement the plan within nine months.

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