AOL Cans IM Spam, aka 'Spim'

After tackling Spam, AOL is now waging a two front offensive against spammers. America Online has taken the fight to "Spim," which is crossing over the threshold of disruption.

Spim -- instant messages that contain a side of spam -- is a fairly new method for sending unsolicited bulk messages, but has become enough of a nuisance that AOL has filed a federal lawsuit against unnamed defendants to can it.

AOL claims that the defendants have violated numerous federal and state laws by sending out thousands of spam-yielding instant messages to its members. In a September interview, an AOL spokesperson told BetaNews that it was already blocking such messages on the server level and grappling with the ever changing tactics of what it referred to as "disgruntled former spammers."

In the same interview, AOL left the door open for other tactics that it will use to police its networks such as cutting off network access to third party clients.

Although they are inherently related and the battle plans are coordinated, AOL's efforts to neutralize spam and spim are two separate undertakings largely due to differences in the underlying technologies between the two mediums. For instance, spim is generated by "bots" that randomly rotate Screen Names on the proprietary network.

However different, AOL has vowed to do whatever its takes to protect its customers whether they are receiving e-mail or chatting with buddies.