Subject: Fw: [ISO] Fwd: AOL 4.0 is an Intrusion of Privacy - IMPORTANT!
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 1997 05:36:41 -0400
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-----Original Message-----
From: John 
To: in_search_of@primenet.com ;
Blackvault@MyList.net 
Date: Wednesday, October 08, 1997 10:12 PM
Subject: [ISO] Fwd: AOL 4.0 is an Intrusion of Privacy - IMPORTANT!
>We are "In Search Of . . ." answers together. Each posting must reflect
>personal respect, integrity, honesty, and full disclosure of information.
>----------
>
>Hello everybody!!
>
> This is probably a hoax, but it makes for an interesting read.
>
>
>>
>> From a former AOL employee:
>>
>> I'll try and cut through the crap, and try to get to the point of this
>> letter.  I used to work for America Online, and would like to remain
>> anonymous for that reason.  I was laid off in early September, but I
>> know exactly why I was laid off, which I will now explain:
>>
>> Since last December, I had been one of the many people assigned to
>> design AOL 4.0 for Windows  (AOL 4.0 beta, codenamed Casablanca).  In
>> the beginning, I was very proud of this task, until I found out the true
>> cost of it.  Things were going fine until about mid-February, when me
>> and 2 of my colleagues started to suspect a problem, an unexplainable
>> 'Privacy Invasion', with the new version.  One of them, who is a master
>> programmer, copied the finished portion of the new version (Then 'Build
>> 52'), and took it home, and we spent nearly 2 weeks of sleepless nights
>> examining and debugging the program, flipping it inside-out, and here is
>> what we found.
>>
>> Unlike all previous versions of America Online, version 4.0 puts
>> something in your hard drive called a 'cookie'.  (AOL members click HREF="
>>aol://4344:1047.g334.8411481.532897009">here for a
>> definition).  However, the cookie we found on Version 4.0 was far more
>> treacherous than the simple internet cookie.  How would you like
>> somebody looking at your entire hard drive, snooping through any (yes,
>> any) piece of information on your hard drive.  It could also read your
>> password and log in information and store it deep in the program code.
>> Well, all previous versions, whether you like it or not, have done this
>> to a certain extent, but only with files you downloaded.  As me and my
>> colleagues discovered, with the new version, anytime you are signed on
>> to AOL, any top aol executive, any aol worker, who has been sworn to
>> secrecy regarding this feature, can go into your hard drive and retrieve
>> any piece of information that they so desire.  Billing, download
>> records, e-mail, directories, personal documents, programs, financial
>> information, scanned images, etc ... Better start keeping all those
>> pictures on a floppy disk!
>>
>> This is a totally disgusting violation of our rights, and your right to
>> know as well.  Since this is undoubtably 'Top Secret' information that I
>> am revealing, my life at AOL is pretty much over.  After discovering
>> this information, we started to inform a few other workers at America
>> Online, so that we could get a large enough crew to stop this from
>> happening to the millions of unfortunate and unsuspecting America Online
>> members.  This was in early August.  One month later, all three of us
>> were unemployed.  We got together, and figured there was something we
>> had to do to let the public know.
>>
>> Unemployed, with one of us going through a divorce (me) and another who
>> is about to undergo treatment for Cancer, our combined financial
>> situation is not currently enough to release any sort or article.  We
>> attepted to create a web page on three different servers containing
>> in-depth information on AOL 4.0, but all three were taken down within 2
>> days.  We were running very low on time (4.0 is released early this
>> winter), so we figured our last hope to reveal this madness before it
>> effects the people was starting something similar to a chain letter,
>> this letter you are reading.  Please do the following, to help us expose
>> AOL for who they really are, and to help us and yourself recieve
>> personal gratification for taking a stand for our freedom:
>>
>> 1.  Forward this letter to as many people as you can (not just friends
>> and family, as many as you can!)
>>
>> 2.  Tell people who aren't on America Online in person, especially
>> important people (Private Investigators, Government workers, City
>> Council)
>>
>> 3.  If the information about the new version isn't exposed by the time
>> aol is released early this winter, for your own protection, DON'T
>> DOWNLOAD AOL 4.0 UNDER ANY CONDITION !!!
>>
>> Thank you for reading and examining this information.  Me and my
>> colleagues hope that you will help us do the right thing in this
>> situation.  Enjoy America Online (just kidding!).
>>
>> Regards,
>> A former AOL employee
>>
--- GEcho=Abandonware
(1:261/3040)
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