Spammer's Sports Car Won by AOL Senior; Member from Berryville, Virginia Speeds Away in Porsche Boxster Convertible Confiscated From a Major Spammer

DULLES, Va.--April 29, 2004--

Over 1 Million Enter Unprecedented AOL Sweepstakes in Strong Showing of Antispam Solidarity

Members of America Online enjoy being in the driver's seat when it comes to fighting spam. But one lucky member truly IS in the driver's seat - thanks to AOL's Antispam Sweepstakes, which awarded the winner with a Porsche(R) Boxster(R) Convertible that used to belong to a major spammer.

At a ceremony today at the AOL corporate headquarters in Dulles, Virginia, the keys to the spammer's Porsche(R) were 'officially' handed over to the winner. In addition, the winner got a champagne toast sendoff, and also was given a certificate awarding him a "Complimentary Membership" on the AOL service.

And who is the lucky winner? He is longtime AOL member Charles S. Chase, 73 years old and retired, from Berryville, Virginia (about 65 miles west of Washington, D.C.). Mr. Chase was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and is an electrical engineer graduate of Oregon State University. He also served for seven years as a technician in the United States Navy. He and his wife Margaret are involved in community theater at the Old Opera House in Charlestown, West Virginia. Mr. Chase also sings bass for the Arts Academy Chorale at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA.

Oh, and he doesn't like spam.

"I sure am going to enjoy this convertible sports car for many years, I hope. I am overwhelmed and delighted to be the winner. I find spam and spammers to be a routine irritation. I don't want to read their messages, and I always click on the 'Report Spam' button, and that makes me feel good. It's a great 'gotcha' button that gives members the most wonderful feeling that they can actually do something to the spam and the spammers," said Mr. Chase.

"It's great to see Mr. & Mrs. Chase drive away in a Porsche(R) convertible - courtesy of a major spammer that AOL shut down," said Randall Boe, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of America Online. "Its a small token of thanks to members like Charles Chase for helping us fight spam, but it sends a big and important signal to spammers across the online medium: if you spam our members, we are committed to tracking you down, finding you, suing you, and putting you out of business. Worse yet, we may go after not only your spam tools, but your spam toys as well - houses, cars, boats and anything else you accumulated from spamming. AOL is truly putting the 'pedal to the metal' in our spam fighting tactics."

AOL announced on March 30 that it had seized a luxury Porsche(R) sports car from a major spammer who AOL caught thanks to members reporting spam, and also announced that it would award the car to a lucky AOL member in a unique online sweepstakes. The spammer purchased the car with profits derived from sending junk email to online consumers - including AOL members. AOL seized the car at the successful conclusion of a legal action taken against the spammer, stemming from one of five spam lawsuits filed by AOL in Federal court on April 15, 2003.

The car AOL awarded today is a fully-loaded 2002 Porsche(R) Boxster(R) S Cabriolet 2-door, with a 3.2-liter, 250-horsepower engine, manual transmission, seal grey metallic exterior and tan leather interior, CD-player, Bose(R) music system, and Sport package.

As of the conclusion of the sweepstakes, on April 8th, a total of almost 1.1 million AOL screen names had been entered by members for a chance to win the special car, making this one of the most popular sweepstakes in the history of AOL. The sweepstakes also generated 3 million pageviews of the sweepstakes promotion in just over 8 days, after being showcased on the AOL "Welcome Screen".

For a color photo of the spammer's sports car that was awarded today, please go to http://corp.aol.com/press/press_release033004.html.

About America Online, Inc.

America Online, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. Based in Dulles, Virginia, America Online is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies and e-commerce services.