The server (rpc.bloglines.com) does not like the UserAgent value being sent by LWP::Simple when it's a trivial GET request. It sends "lwp-trivial/VERSION-NUMBER". A different value is used when you do get_old() or getstore() or getprint(): "LWP::Simple/VERSION-NUMBER". I'd call this a bug; whether it's a bug in LWP::Simple or in the server, I can't say for certain.