The following article from the December 1 Boston Globe was posted by 
niese@hevanet.com to alt.aol-sucks.


BREAST CANCER PATIENTS THROWN OFF-LINE BY LIST
By Richard A. Knox
The Boston Globe

In an effort to clean up cyberspace, the nation's largest computer 
on-line service last week declared the word 'breast' taboo-thereby making 
it impossible for breast cancer patients to contact one another for 
information and support.

An America Online spokesperson said Thursday that the action had been an 
error and promised to correct the problem within 24 hours.  She said 
America Online would provide affected subscribers with five free hours of 
on-line time.  The company's action came after several days of irate 
on-line protests by outraged breast cancer patients about the company's 
decision to put 'breast' on its list of vulgar words.

'This is outrageous and potentially life-threatening,' a woman who uses 
the screen name Renna S. wrote to fellow users of America Online's breast 
cancer bulletin board.

The problem came to light when a breast cancer survivor who goes by the 
screen name of MiaBella found that her 'member profile' had been deleted 
by America Online.  Member profiles enable America Online users to 
contact others with like interests while remaining anonymous.

When MiaBella tried to create a new member profile identifying herself as 
a breast cancer survivor, America Online flashed her a message that she 
could not use 'vulgar' words.  She then discovered that the company had 
deleted the member profiles of all users who had used the word 'breast'.

[end of article, any typos are mine]