Original Usenet thread from alt.ascii-art, started 29 Oct 1997.
Aol 4.0 - This is not spam!
alt.ascii-art
· 4 messages · 29 Oct 1997 - 5 Nov 1997
I'm not sure of it's authenticity but I have seen this message around, and felt that it was important that people new about it: > > >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, code named 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 <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 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 undoubtedly 'Top Secret' information that 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 attempted 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 > receive 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 To keep to the theme: ___ ____ __ / _ \ / \ | | / /_\ \ / /\ \ | | / ___ \ \ \/ / | |__ / / \ \ \____/ |_____| S U C K S Bye! S m i l e y @ d e m o n . c o . u k R e m o v e "NOSPAM" t o r e p l y ******* ***** ***** **** **** *** *** *** ## ## ## ## *** ** ## ## ## ## ** * # # * * ## ## ## ## * * ## ## ## ## * * * * ############# ############ * * ### #### * * #### #### ## * * ## ## # ## * ** ########## # # ** *** ## ###*** *** ####*** **** **** ***** ***** ******* Smiley 8P www.mallac.demon.co.uk/index.html - I found it hard, It was hard to find Oh well, whatever nevermind -
> > 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 > 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. > > 1. Forward this letter to as many people as you can (not just friends > and family, as many as you can!) Chain spam mail. > 2. Tell people who aren't on America Online in person, especially > important people (Private Investigators, Government workers, City > Council) This should increase your standing in the community. Hope they let you off of the fourth floor soon. I hope no one takes this seriously. I could go on and on about how the technical aspects of this are bull but it would take me all day. I have two four gig scsi drives on my system. This guy claims that they could get on my system through my 33.6 TCP/IP connection and actually find something they could use, please. What do you think would happen to your bandwidth when they started a download. You don't think people would notice their hard drives spinning away with no apparent activity. What would they do with a pwd file anyway. Those files of any importance are kept on the server. This is exactly what he describes at the last. A hoax and a chain letter. No I don't use AOL. Never have and never will for other reasons. I read the alt.2600 groups but stop in to look at the cool pictures. Belial
In article <63iubd$ban$1...@news.Leiden.NL.net>, miK <ffw...@dataweb.nl> writes >hi Smiley, > >Let me hurt you real bad for posting this AOL crap :) > > > ###################################### > # # > # #### #### #### ## #### # > # ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## # > # ## ## ## ## ## ## # > # ## ## ##### #### ## #### # > # ## ## ## ## ## ## ## # > # ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## # > # #### #### #### ## #### # > # # > ###################################### > __ > ____ _________ _________ ____ / / > / __ `/ ___/ _ \ / ___/ __ \/ __ \/ / > / /_/ / / / __/ / /__/ /_/ / /_/ / / > \__,_/_/ \___/ not \___/\____/\____/_/ > > ______ ____ |\ | || | \ \\ / /\ |\ | /\ |\\ | || | _ / \\ / / \\ |\\ | / \\ | \\ | || || \\ \\ / /___\\ | \\ | /___\\ | \\ | || || \\ \\ / / \\ | \\ | / \\ | \\| __||__ || \\ \\/ / \\ | \\| / \\ ******* ***** ***** **** **** *** *** *** ## ## ## ## *** ** ## ## ## ## ** * # # * * ## ## ## ## * * ## ## ## ## * * * * ############# ############ * * ### #### * * #### #### ## * * ## ## # ## * ** ########## # # ** *** ## ###*** *** ####*** **** **** ***** ***** ******* __ ____ _________ _________ ____ / /_________ / __ `/ ___/ _ \ / ___/ __ \/ __ \/ // _ \ ___/ / /_/ / / / __// /__/ /_/ / /_/ / // __/ / \__,_/_/ \___/ \___/\____/\____/_/ \___/_/ Or should that be were cooler? Either way, live or dead they're better than oasis! S m i l e y @ d e m o n . c o . u k R e m o v e "NOSPAM" t o r e p l y ******* ***** ***** **** **** *** *** *** ## ## ## ## *** ** ## ## ## ## ** * # # * * ## ## ## ## * * ## ## ## ## * * * * ############# ############ * * ### #### * * #### #### ## * * ## ## # ## * ** ########## # # ** *** ## ###*** *** ####*** **** **** ***** ***** ******* Smiley 8P www.mallac.demon.co.uk/index.html - I found it hard, It was hard to find Oh well, whatever nevermind -
Good to hear, good to hear...
Mesself, I'm not gullible, just a fool. :{
--
- aardvarko
please remove *REMOVE ME* from my e-mail address before replying
if any spammers are reading this, GO DIE!
Smiley wrote in message <9nb...@demon.co.uk>...
>[snip]
>cheers, I may be gullible but I am not a fool (well not total fool
>anyway)
>Contact nat...@earthlink.net, he posted the first version of this
>that I found in a ng somewhere.
>>>
>>> ___ ____ __
>>> / _ \ / \ | |
>>> / /_\ \ / /\ \ | |
>>> / ___ \ \ \/ / | |__
>>>/ / \ \ \____/ |_____|
>>> S U C K S
>>>
>>>Bye!
>>> S m i l e y @ d e m o n . c o . u k
>>> R e m o v e "NOSPAM" t o r e p l y
>>> *******
>>> ***** *****
>>> **** ****
>>> *** ***
>>> *** ## ## ## ## ***
>>> ** ## ## ## ## **
>>> * # # *
>>> * ## ## ## ## *
>>> * ## ## ## ## *
>>> * *
>>> * ############# ############ *
>>> * ### #### *
>>> * #### #### ## *
>>> * ## ## # ## *
>>> ** ########## # # **
>>> *** ## ###***
>>> *** ####***
>>> **** ****
>>> ***** *****
>>> ******* Smiley 8P
>>> www.mallac.demon.co.uk/index.html
>>>
>>> - I found it hard, It was hard to find
>>> Oh well, whatever nevermind -
>>
>>
>
> S m i l e y @ d e m o n . c o . u k
> R e m o v e "NOSPAM" t o r e p l y
> *******
> ***** *****
> **** ****
> *** ***
> *** ## ## ## ## ***
> ** ## ## ## ## **
> * # # *
> * ## ## ## ## *
> * ## ## ## ## *
> * *
> * ############# ############ *
> * ### #### *
> * #### #### ## *
> * ## ## # ## *
> ** ########## # # **
> *** ## ###***
> *** ####***
> **** ****
> ***** *****
> ******* Smiley 8P
> www.mallac.demon.co.uk/index.html
>
> - I found it hard, It was hard to find
> Oh well, whatever nevermind -
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