It is your choice to save it locally. They are just saying that their copy will be deleted.

> Unfortunately you are not able to save or export your Buddy List.

Did they ever say that information they store on their servers is solely owned by the user that generated said information?

In the US, copyright law says you own what you create. What AOL's TOS must do is provide you with terms under which you license your stuff to AOL. Nowhere in the law does it say they have to give you a way to export the creations that you put into their system.

Isn’t IM considered ephemeral anyways? Email is a different story...

It was the users choice to abide by the user agreement?

I don't get how any reasonable framework can exist to say such detailed efforts at curating my identity must be pushed upon others?

You want a lifelong log of your discourse? Write it in a medium you control.

This is some hyper-active nationalist zeitgeist? You are not owed a say in any and every facet of life that touches you incidentally. It's never been the case "on the ground" in America.

I would have preferred AOL not have the ability to even read it, let alone store it.