Compuserve chat and AIM

This is a problem that's been going on for months and Compuserve seems unwilling or unable to do anything about it. People are coming into Compuserve chat through AIM with names very similar to people already in Compuserve chat. They may substitute the number 0 for the letter o, or the letter l for the number 1 and try to impersonate valid members. They then start IMing people in chat, posing as the actual member, and use racial slurs, foul language, explicit sexual threats, or threaten to kill or attack them. Sometimes it's kids getting these IM's and it's not the kind of thing you'd want your 12 year old daughter seeing. Then they tell them to come to a chat room where the real member is if they want to say something about it. Of course the real member knows nothing about it and has to spend their time explaining that it wasn't them that sent the IM in the first place.

If we go to the Help area, we're told to write the people in control of chat. Repeated emails of screen shots and copies of IM's sent to the people in charge of chat are either ignored, result in a form letter thanking the sender for reporting email spam, being told to call Compuserve Billing ( which of course is useless ) or the excuse that the trouble makers are AIM members and Compuserve can't do anything about it. Since it's Compuserve members being harassed and Compuserve and AIM are all part of Time Warner, I don't see why someone there can't do something...if they really wanted to. When these trouble makers are getting into Compuserve chat through Compuserve or AIM, they're committing multiple violations of the Terms of Service of either of them, so we don't understand why Compuserve won't do anything.

Does anyone have any suggestions how we can get Compuserve to start doing something about this? Of course we could all just leave Compuserve, but we feel this is their problem and we shouldn't all have to change providers just because Compuserve won't take this problem seriously. My friends and I are tired of having this done to us and to their kids and Compuserve not willing to stop it.

 

Hi John:

Enclosed is a website I found. I wonder if they might
be able to help you. You might take a look at the website
and see if you think it pertains to your particular situation.

I know it seems like a hassle but I would switch ISP.

Maggie

PS, What are your thoughts regarding speaking
to the police?

http://www.haltabuse.org/index.shtml

 

Hi Maggie,

Thank you for the quick response. I went to the web site you'd mentioned and it looks like I might get some good information there. I'm really glad you let me know about it. Going to another ISP is certainly a solution for me or a few others that are targeted, but wouldn't help the dozens of different people in Compuserve chat getting the harassing IM's almost every night. I think it'd be better and faster for all of us if there was a way to get Compuserve to handle the problem they've been told about. The Police are also an option of course, but it seems like Compuserve could put an end to it immediately by closing the accounts of the people doing all the harassment, if they wanted to. Maybe Certified letters to the Time Warner Board of Directors are the next step...we'll see. The people coming into Compuserve chat seem to be coming in through AIM, and there's an AIM Terms of Service
policy that members have to agree to. The only problem is, AIM doesn't have any place to report Terms of Service violations. Convenient for AIM...not so convenient for people harassed by AIM members. If anyone has any other good suggestions like the web site you gave me, I'd appreciate hearing them. Thanks again Maggie.