Seth:

I saw this story earlier today. While I do go to truthout, I was not a subscriber. So I set up a Hotmail account, subscribed to truthout's newsletter, and immediately received the confirmation email from truthout. No blockage whatsoever.

In reading the comments from readers, there were claims that even emails that had the phrase "truthout.com" somewhere in the mail -- for example, I send you a mail and say "please read this article from truthout.org" -- were also being blocked. I tested this as well several times from several email accounts, both sending to and receiving from the new Hotmail account. It worked perfectly fine every time.

I even clicked on the "email this story link" in a truthout story and sent it to the hotmail account. This, of course, worked fine as well.

Truthout's credibility took a serious hit last year with Jason Leopold's reporting on Karl Rove. It seems they are about to take another. As someone who has seen the Microsoft legal team from the inside, I'd hate to think what they'll do to Marc Ash and truthout.org if these claims aren't removed and an apology issued.

--Ernie

Thanks for the info. Though I doubt this would escalate to a lawsuit. It's just another example of the attention-imperative :-(.

Thanks for posting on this, Seth. I'd gotten the "memo" on Truthout being censored, and I wondered. And, yes, those services will grab things for "spamminess"--as much as they'll let thru all those offers for baby bulldogs from Nigeria. Maybe Truthout needs an email marketing lesson on how to not be spammy (or they should attach a puppy picture.)

Tish, they'd probably use the puppy for an ad along the lines of "read us or the dog gets killed!" :-).