Mistake Wipes Out 14,000 Email Accounts

Embarrassed executives at Charter Communications have given $50 credits to each of 14,000 customers who had their email accounts accidentally wiped out, the AP reports. A company spokeswoman apologized for the technical error that saw active accounts erased in a routine clearout of unused email accounts.The cable company didn't realize their mistake until complaints started flooding in.

"The thing that really makes me sick is that a lot of family photos that people had emailed me and a lot of artist photos were lost," said a customer who lost 7 years of emails."I never thought to download them onto something else." Charter say they are changing their procedures to prevent any more such mass deletions. (More email stories.)