National Organization Of Internet Commerce

An Internet commerce group dropped its plans to post the e-mail addresses of 5 million America Online members next week after receiving "thousands" of messages from AOL members asking it not to follow through with the threat.

An Internet commerce group dropped its plans to post the e-mail addresses of 5 million America Online members next week after receiving "thousands" of messages from AOL members asking it not to follow through with the threat.

A fledgling business group that pledged to make public today the e-mail addresses of 1 million America Online customers said Wednesday it would instead post 5 million addresses next Thursday if the world's largest online service refuses to cooperate in accepting unsolicited commercial mailings. The escalation came after AOL threatened to sue the Chino, Calif.

The opposing interests of electronic commerce and individual privacy erupted in conflict Tuesday after a small Internet business group threatened to make public the e-mail addresses of 1 million of America Online's 10 million users if the giant service continues to bar the businesses from pitching their products online to AOL members.