Xref: utzoo comp.org.eff.talk:2316 alt.privacy:532 alt.censorship:2184 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!pcserver2!genesis!kdenning From: kdenning@genesis.Naitc.Com (Karl Denninger) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk,alt.privacy,alt.censorship Subject: Re: Prodigy charged with invading users' privacy Summary: Right. More info Keywords: stage.dat, prodigy Message-ID: <1991May3.223758.15070@pcserver2.naitc.com> Date: 3 May 91 22:37:58 GMT References: <1991May1.215612.2978@ruacad.ac.runet.edu> <1991May3.071620.14140@ruacad.ac.runet.edu> Sender: news@pcserver2.naitc.com (Usenet admin) Organization: AC Nielsen Co., Bannockburn IL Lines: 48 Nntp-Posting-Host: genesis.naitc.com In article <1991May3.071620.14140@ruacad.ac.runet.edu> leng@ruacad.ac.runet.edu (Lud Eng) writes: >In article francis@zaphod.uchicago.edu writes: >>>>This should provide rather conclusive proof one way or the other. > >>> As someone else pointed out, this is not conclusive. Due to the way >>>the Prodigy software works, it may well be trying to buffer to the hard >>>drive even if it's not installed there. If there is indeed a bug in it, > >>Read the post you're following up to. He said to zero the unallocated >>areas; that means there shouldn't be any place for them to claim that >>has actual data in it. > >I did read the post... He just said to zero the unused areas, but leave >the hard drive (and all info) accessable. My point was that Prodigy may >go ahead and use the hard drive for scratch space if it's available, so >zeroing the floppy may not do much. I'm not saying it's particularly >likely (or even makes sense offhand to me) that they could accidently read >non-prodigy related files off the hard drive and get them mixed into their >temp file, but it can't be ruled out as a bug just because it's unlikely. :) Nonsense. They can't be doing that unless: 1) They're bypassing DOS' file access mechanisms, in which case I think the case can be made that their software is negligently designed. 2) They are deliberately opening files they have no business being in. If you have wiped all unallocated disk space on the fixed disk, and don't run anything else between the wipe and the Prodigy install/run, then there is no way for the data space they use to get your private data in it. (I am assuming you are smart enough to turn off disk caches, etc. to eliminate the possibility of a poorly-designed disk cache program.) If they're reading from data space assigned to some file other than their own or on the free FAT bitmap, then they're potentially guilty. If they're not, then they are clean. -- Karl Denninger - AC Nielsen, Bannockburn IL (708) 317-3285 kdenning@nis.naitc.com "The most dangerous command on any computer is the carriage return." Disclaimer: The opinions here are solely mine and may or may not reflect those of the company.