[12903] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: True or Spam Hoax?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dan Ritter)
Thu Oct 16 08:38:06 1997
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 08:04:52 -0400
To: Neil Villacorta <neilv@metacreations.com>, nanog@merit.edu
From: Dan Ritter <dritter@bbnplanet.com>
Cc: mac_the_knife@macweek.com
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.971015163008.12845B-100000@vectorfx.metacrea
tions.com>
At 04:33 PM 10/15/97 -0700, Neil Villacorta wrote:
>Anyone know if this true?
>
>I got it forwarded from an employee of ours.
Smells like a hoax. Quick analysis:
> 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:
^ Note the appeal to authenticity through exploitation of the "fired worker
seeks revenge" meme.
> 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
^ I don't know anyone who is routinely referred to as a "master programmer"
except in fun. Sounds |<-R4D to me.
> Unlike all previous versions of America Online, version 4.0 puts
> something in your hard drive called a 'cookie'. (AOL members click
> <A HREF="aol://4344:1047.g334.8411481.532897009"here</A 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
^ The press has made much mention of cookies, and so it's now a nifty word
with which to impress your friends.
> 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.
^ No doubt it incorporates Crack, as well.
> 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
^ Ah, the Protocols of the Elders of AOL.
> 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
^ I thought the informant had already been laid off...
> 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.
^ Well, thanks. I expect that calling up the newspapers was too much effort?
> winter), so we figured our last hope to reveal this madness before
> it effects the people was starting something similar to a chain letter,
^ s/similar to/identical with/
>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!)
^ Now the meme is replicating.
> 2. Tell people who aren't on America Online in person, especially
> important people (Private Investigators, Government workers, City
> Council)
^ What's with the odd capitalization, anyway?
Compare this to a Bugtraq posting, and see if it makes sense. Not to me,
anyway. I'd be perfectly willing to believe that AOL sweeps your disk to
look for particular software installs, or even that it provides a backdoor
for disk access - if this had been written in a technical style with an
authentic-sounding methodology. As it is, it's just another Penpal Greetings
email virus that I'll have to debunk for customers.
-dsr-
Dan Ritter dritter@bbnplanet.com
ISE New England Region 617.873.4514
Epoch ends on Mon Jan 18 22:14:07 2038 EST.
