Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!portal!cup.portal.com!CTuna
From: CTuna@cup.portal.com (Don S Gladden)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: Prodigy Rip-Off?!?
Message-ID: <41918@cup.portal.com>
Date: 2 May 91 02:28:50 GMT
References: <41832@cup.portal.com>
  <1991May1.161749.25807@agate.berkeley.edu>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 21

Interested readers should follow the discussion in comp.risks. *
 *
One theory is that the information enters the Prodigy files purely *
by accident when the Prodigy software requests disk buffers from DOS *
and doesn't bother to zero them out.  So whatever leftover junk was *
in the disk buffer makes its way into your Prodigy file. *
 *
`Don't attribute to maliciousness what can easily be explained by stupidity.' 

(Forgive the strange message indentifiers, I haven't figured out how to add
a prefix character on Portal yet....)

Anyway, even if this is 'accidental', it *still* allows your information to 
be accessed by Prodigy.  The point I make here, is that Prodigy has the 
POSSIBILITY of "stealing" information from you.  Is that legal?  Even if it
is not intentional, now that this discussion is out, will some employee of
Prodigy take advantage of this?  How many people have credit card numbers 
in one or more of their disk files?  I simply do not like the idea of the
*CHANCE* of someone getting information like this. 

Don