Yesterday, AOL agreed to a settlement, costing it $3 million. In so doing, AOL avoided going forward with a legal battle with 48 states and the District of Columbia, regarding how it handled customer cancellations. (article, NY Times.)
AOL found itself in this predicament because of the rapidly changing internet model. AOL, an early successful pioneer of the social side of the internet (personal e-mail, surfing), found itself pressured by newer programs offered by companies such as Yahoo and Google, which offer many services, including e-mail for free. This decision clearly marks the beginning of the end of the old "pay to play" model for the end user of the internet. It is somewhat poignant that the group rule mentality characterized by Web 2.0 was instrumental in bringing down AOL, albeit in this case perhaps in a bit old fashioned way, the class action suit.
