America
Online, Inc. Announces Acquisition Of Mailblocks, Inc.
[August 4, 2004]
Mailblocks’ Challenge/Response Antispam Technology
Supplements AOL’s Ongoing Fight Against Spammers
and Will Significantly Enhance AOL® Mail
Award-Winning
Service To Provide Faster, Easier Use of Email Accessed
on Web
Dulles,
VA – Wednesday, August 4, 2004 – America
Online, Inc, the world’s leading interactive services
company, today announced the acquisition of Mailblocks,
Inc., a personal, Web-based email service for consumers
known for using state-of-the-art technology to block
spam and provide a streamlined, efficient email user
interface. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Mailblocks, based in Los Altos, CA,
was founded in 2002 by the late Phil Goldman and was
commercially launched in March 2003 as an email service
for both home users and small businesses. The company
was previously privately held.
Mailblocks is best known for its development
and deployment of ‘challenge/response’ technology
to fight unwanted junk email and authenticate legitimate
email senders. Mailblocks is also recognized as having
other industry-leading email features, including an
attractive, easy-to-use, sleek email user interface.
“This acquisition speaks volumes
about AOL’s commitment to providing the best email
and spam-fighting tools to our members, as well as our
overall, ongoing commitment to the battle against unwanted
junk email and the spammers who try to send it,”
said Roy Ben-Yoseph, Director of Email Products at AOL.
“We are thrilled to welcome Mailblocks and its
energetic, talented team of innovators to our company.
Our members will be thrilled with the many attributes
of Mailblocks’ award-winning, cutting-edge email
technology. We expect these enhancements to offer AOL
members the ability to further reduce spam in their
email inbox, building on the improvements we’ve
already delivered to members this year.”
“Mailblocks’ challenge/response
technology, as well as its easy-to-use web mail user
interface, will provide even more benefits and value
to our members’ communications portfolio on AOL,”
Ben-Yoseph added. “This will help members more
effectively manage, protect and consolidate their email
– and gets us even closer to accomplishing our
daily mission at AOL of increasing the amount of wanted,
‘good’ email while eradicating the amount
of unwanted, ‘bad’ email in the inbox.”
In addition to positive reviews and
comments by noted industry reviewers from The Wall Street
Journal and USA Today, and industry analysts like Jupiter
Research, Mailblocks has also garnered a variety of
notable industry citations, such as PC Magazine’s
“Editor’s Choice”, PC World’s
“2004 World Class Award”, and PC World’s
“Best Buy”, among others.
AOL members and users of AOL Network
services will begin to utilize the benefits of Mailblocks
technology through a series of phased, convenient upgrades
in the near future. AOL will integrate some of Mailblocks’
most popular features for those who access their mail
via the web – such as a redesigned, streamlined
user interface combined with faster, easier access to
email. AOL will also make available the patented, highly-effective
Mailblocks ‘challenge/response’ technology
across the AOL service as an option for members who
want to use it, which will be added not only to the
current AOL® “Mail & Spam Controls”
menu, but will also work for those accessing mail on
the web.
In addition to the antispam benefits
of ‘challenge/response’ technology, the
Mailblocks service will also strengthen AOL’s
industry-leading, award-winning Parental Controls. This
is designed to help further protect young users of the
AOL service, and will further empower parents with knowledge
and control over who their children receive emails from
online.
AOL also stated that a transition plan
is being developed for current users of the Mailblocks
service, who may continue to use the full features and
functionality of Mailblocks at this time.
About America Online, Inc.
America Online, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX). Based in Dulles, Virginia,
America Online is the world's leader in interactive
services, Web brands, Internet technologies and e-commerce
services.
Mailblocks and the Mailblocks logo are
trademarks of Mailblocks, Inc.
* To learn more about Mailblocks, visit http://about.mailblocks.com.
** For a description of Mailblocks’ ‘challenge/response’
techniques, please visit http://about.mailblocks.com/features/challenge.aspx.
*** For reviews and articles about Mailblocks, please
visit http://about.mailblocks.com/press/reviews.aspx.
For More Information, Contact:
Nicholas J. Graham
America Online, Corporate Communications
703-265-1746
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