Toolkit

Story: AOL filter prevents anonymous email

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Over a dozen states have a Safe At Home Address Confidentiality Program (ACP) for domestic violence victims. I was in enrolled in three: Florida, New Hampshire and California. ACP does not remail packages and does not remail mail from victims. ACP does not provide remailling of emails. I was traced via a postmark on an envelope I mailed to a third party who disclosed the postmark to my abuser.

ISPs need to establish an ACP program for victims if they are going to block anonymous email.

My abuser obtained my ip# from the header of emails his hired hacker intercepted that I sent to third parties. He also hired investigators to wiretap my phone line to ascertain the local access number I was dialling. The other way he traced my isp was via credit card. The AOL CD and Earthlink CD I obtained permitted payment only by credit card. I paid thousands of dollars to attempt to elude and relocate. uently, I paid thousands of dollars to attempt to elude and relocate. My attempts to elude were foiled despite having someone else sign up for me. Why? Because I used my computer.

I signed up with various isp that allowed payment by money order and no credit check. I was traced by going logging on. ISP fail to disclose that they identify their customer's computers by its mac address. Contrary to popular belief, a mac address is not limited to mac computers. Every computer's modem has a mac address. To successfully elude, I was forced to purchase a new mac address by purchasing a $75 modem dialup card.

If I cannot use anonymous email clients to communicate with my family, friends, physicians and attorneys, I will be traced again and again despite purchasing new mac addresses.

By ISPs preventing anonymous email, ISPs will force victims to use email clients that disclose the ip# in the header of emails. This will in turn disclose the mac adddress. This will force victims to repeatedly purchase new mac addresses.

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