About 500 subscribers to US-based human-rights-watch Web site ZNet have had their paid subscription unceremoniously cancelled, after AOL placed a ban on all emails originating from the independent media source.

According to Web site administrator Brian Dominick, AOL has suggested a stream of technical reasons for banning the site, however he said there is no basis in fact for the reasons the ISP is providing.

"At first they claimed we had an open relay, which we don't, but then they just claimed we were spamming," Dominick explained. "Eventually I was told by an AOL tech in Canada that they did not have us listed as an open relay but were still banning us - he could not tell us why."

AOL has official anti-spam policies which attempt to identify spam sources designed to weed out unwanted mail, however after almost three weeks, and extensive corroboration by its subscribers, AOL is still refusing to remove the ban, effecting ZNet newsletters.

Adding weight to Dominick's concerns is the fact that this is not the first time ZNet has found itself banned from distributing its newsletters to AOL users. The site, which publishes news and political analyses often critical of the US government, and abuses of power in the corporate arena, continues to operate despite the reported ban, sending the newsletters through an alternative account.

Officially AOL is refusing to comment on the ZNet case saying only that the company's anti-spam policies are long standing and designed to protect their members from unsolicited mail. Far from unsolicited the 'ZNet Sustainers' newsletter is a paid for subscription based service.

"There are a number of reasons why a particular set of emails or source of emails might be impacted by AOL's anti-spam policies," said AOL spokesperson Jennifer Parker. "We are committed to providing our members with a great online experience and if a piece of email is legitimate, we want to deliver it to our members. We will work with any legitimate emailer, including ZNet, to ensure that this happens."

While Dominick claims he was clearly told by AOL staff that there was not technical reason why they should have been banned, Parker insisted that the ban was probably based on a technical issue, rather than an attempt to gag the Web site.

"The fact is," said Dominick. "There's no evidence in our logs or anywhere else that our SMTP relay was ever abused. AOL has admitted the problem is at their end, and we have technical proof of that as well. We have even been told there is no legitimate technical reason for the ban. As far as I'm concerned it's between AOL and its members."

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