AOL RECORDS USED TO SOLVE MURDER CASE Fairfax County, Va. police recently obtained a search warrant for electronic files relating to participants in an American Online chat room in an effort to solve a murder in New Jersey. The victim had met his alleged assailant through a "men for men" chat room, and investigators say several other chat room participants helped in disposing of the body. One of them, a 24-year-old woman, is now charged with tampering with the evidence. An AOL spokeswoman said that it is the company's policy to comply with subpoenas, and that although it does not keep records from chat rooms, it does keep records of e-mail for five days before they are purged. "We certainly respect and abide by our customers' right to privacy, but we are also going to follow the law. We have 4.5 million customers -- that's the size of a city. When we have some problems, we have to deal with it responsibly." (St. Petersburg Times 28 Jan 96) *************************************************************** EDUPAGE is what you've just finished reading. (Please note that it's "Edupage" and not "EduPage.") To subscribe to Edupage: send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message type: subscribe edupage Emmitt Smith (assuming that your name is Emmitt Smith; if it's not, substitute your own name). ... To cancel, send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message type: unsubscribe edupage. (Subscription problems? Send mail to educom@educom.unc.edu.) -- edgar@Garg.Campbell.CA.US (Edgar Swank) The Land of Garg BBS -- +1 408 378-5108