It's just a small part of a much more widespread problem - a hell of a lot of people just don't give a great deal of thought to their outgoings and don't check their bank and credit card statements. Recurring billing is clearly necessary and legitimate, but it's easy to abuse when there are lots of people who just aren't paying attention. The complete absence of financial education doesn't help.<p>Although I do feel sorry for people who get stuck by this, it really is a first world problem - you have to be very lucky in this world to have enough money to not notice when some of it goes missing.
Stealing is a strong word. It's just business. It isn't AOL's fault your parents don't know better. BTW if you think that's bad this is still around for your grandparents:<p><a href="http://www.webtv.net/" rel="nofollow">http://www.webtv.net/</a><p><i>In 2005 WebTV was still grossing US$150 million per year in revenue with 65% gross margin.</i>