AOL Has Updated Their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy Policies

Here is an excerpt from an email sent to AOL Users,



AOL is working hard to change and improve the way we serve you across all aspects of our services. We have recently relaunched and improved many of our consumer experiences, including AOL.com and MapQuest.com. As we continue to improve AOL for you, some of the improvements are updating the ways that we interact with you and your information. As a result, we want to update you on our Terms of Service (TOS), which contains the agreements between you and AOL. In addition, we are also updating our Privacy Policy. Privacy is incredibly important to all of us and we want to present the updates to our privacy policy in a simplified format designed to help clarify what information we collect, how we use it, and the marketing preferences and online advertising choices available to you. Both the updated TOS and Privacy Policy are available online now and will take effect on March 31, 2011. For more information about AOL's Updated Terms of Service, just click here. To view AOL's Privacy Policy, just click here.

AOL Will Be Cutting Jobs!

According to an online article AOL will be cutting jobs so that it can save millions of dollars.

You can read the online article by clicking here.

If you are an AOL member you can follow the discussion that appears on one of the AOL message boards by clicking here.

In January of 2009 it seems that AOL employees received an internal memo stating plans to cut 700 jobs.

The AOL Message Boards - Changes?

I saw a rumor that AOL might get rid of their message boards so I decided to find out more information about it. Here is what I found so far.

Dear Message Board users,

We wanted to tell you about some changes that are coming to your AOL Message board experience. Many of the most popular message boards are getting a new look and feel in the coming weeks, while a number of the less frequently used message boards are being retired. Be sure to check back at the People Connection Message Boards page for an up-to-date list of active message boards.

These changes will take place on March 31st, 2009.

Thank you for being part of the AOL Message Board community. We thank you for your patience and understanding, and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,

The AOL Message Board Team

source
People Connection Blog

So far this is part of the information that I have found. It seems that AOL may be closing their message boards outside the United States - ie like in the UK and a number of AOL users outside the United States have reported that they have seen messages posted by AOL stating that their message boards will be closing.

AOL Cancels AOL Pictures!

In yet another bit of disappointing news here is information about AOL canceling another one of their features:


Dear AOL Pictures User:

We are sorry to inform you that, as of December 31, 2008, AOL will no longer provide the AOL Pictures online photo service. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

The good news is that AOL has partnered with American Greetings® PhotoWorks® to enable continued access to your pictures through the PhotoWorks service. PhotoWorks provides unlimited free storage, just like AOL Pictures, as well as a variety of options for making creations and sharing your photos. You can access your images on PhotoWorks simply by providing your screen name and password to register for a free American Greetings PhotoWorks account. Register for PhotoWorks now.

While we recommend the American Greetings PhotoWorks option, you may also:

Download your photos to your computer using a new tool that will enable you to quickly save multiple images and albums; or
Purchase a DVD archive of your images. Please note there is a charge for the DVD archive based on the number of images you select.


It is important that you take action no later than December 31, 2008. After this date, you will no longer be able to access your images through AOL Pictures. You may choose from or combine any of the options listed above, based on your needs, as long as you do so by December 31.

Please go to AOL Pictures as soon as possible to register for American Greetings PhotoWorks for continued access to your pictures or to save your images on your computer or to DVD. Here, you will also find more information and step-by-step instructions on each of the available choices.

We sincerely appreciate your being an AOL Pictures user. It has been our pleasure to provide you with an enjoyable online photo experience.

Sincerely,

The AOL Pictures Team

AOL Hometown / FTP And Journals To Be Discontinued!

Shocking news! At least to me it is! You can find out more by clicking here!

If AOL continues at this rate they won't have ANY members at all!

AOL Is RAISING It's Rates!

Be sure to check your AOL inbox because the email has gone out that effective after July 29, 2008, AOL is raising their fees! The fee will increase from $9.95 per month to $11.99 per month.. The increase is due to providing 24 hour tech support for those AOL subscribers that need it. However, long-time subscribers can opt out of this new plan and still get the $9.99 (I thought it was $9.95) plan as long as they don't want the 24 hour tech support. Subscribers opting out of the new fee increase will NOT get the 24 hour tech support but will still be able to call AOL for help if they have trouble signing in with their AOL accounts!

Here is a link to an article from CNet:

AOL Rate Increase

AOL Is Free?

I was talking to someone about AOL now being free and they didn't even know about it!

For those of you that don't know, AOL is now being offered for free. All you have to do is go to their website and sign up.

When you do sign up you will be given a free AOL email address for yourself and you can participate in the AOL message boards. You will also have access to a wealth of information that AOL has.

About the only thing that you do not get - at least I think you don't get - is your own AOL member webpages.

Why is AOL offering it's services for free? My guess is that they feel that they can make more money by allowing advertisers to advertise on the AOL pages.

In any case while AOL is being offered for free there are still many people who still belong to their paid service.