Firstly, I want to clarify that AOL does not own any ISP businesses outside of the US and Canada - our international businesses were closed and/or sold, including the AOL UK ISP service, which is now owned and run by Carphone Warehouse; as well as the Australian access business which is now owned by Primus.

In many cases, such as in both the UK and Australia, the companies now running the businesses have license to use the AOL brand name, and we provide content and certain services (i.e. instant messaging) to those customers, so I can see where it might cause some confusion. Now to the points that you raised in your article:

1. The issue you refer to is isolated only to a small number of users who are subscribers to the AOL-branded service run by Primus in Australia, who were affected by a price plan change that Primus put into place beginning November 1, 2008. Some users had their accounts canceled by Primus as they were required to take action following notification of the price plan change on Oct. 1.

Unfortunately I have to revert any specific questions you might have about the price plan changes to Primus directly, but I can tell you that anyone who has had their account canceled can have their e-mail address reinstated.

2. AOL is not canceling AOL.com e-mail addresses without explanation, nor is there a worldwide issue with this taking place. Please let me know if you're hearing that customers are affected in other areas, and if so, the source - as I believe they may be misinformed.