AOL Instant Messages Easy, Legal to Copy

Apparently right wingers are all in an uproar about someone copying IMs and showing what their man Foley was up to offering help and access in exchange for e-sex.

But AOL allows saving of IM conversations and it is perfectly legal.

Many people who take advantage of these free software services believe their conversations can't be tracked, but that's a misconception, said Michael Hall, managing editor of the Web site Instant Messaging Planet.

"Even the most basic instant-messaging software will keep some sort of archive," he said. "In the Foley case, I noticed there was a lot of carrying on in the right-wing blogosphere about the fact that these messages were recorded, [but] it's not odd. . . . Over the Net, you're never given any guarantees of real privacy."

Instant messages can be saved in a variety of ways. Most popular IM programs have built-in archiving features that can be turned on by anyone who uses them.
...Hall said he inspected screen shots of Foley's messages online and they appeared to have been captured using the standard archiving feature built into AOL's AIM software.

Sorry freepers, no army typewriters involved this time.