Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!dev8j.mdcbbs.com!campbell
From: campbell@dev8j.mdcbbs.com (Tim Campbell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: Prodigy Rip-Off?!?
Message-ID: <1991May7.155412.1@dev8j.mdcbbs.com>
Date: 7 May 91 15:54:11 GMT
References: <41918@cup.portal.com> <1991May2.181827.9230@d.cs.okstate.edu>
Organization: McDonnell Douglas M&E, Cypress CA
Lines: 40
Nntp-Posting-Host: dev8a
Nntp-Posting-User: rivero

In article <1991May2.181827.9230@d.cs.okstate.edu>, ong@d.cs.okstate.edu (ONG ENG TENG) writes:
> Hey people, look what some one else post in misc.consumers:
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Subject: Beware, Prodigy users
> 
> Today's Wall Street Journal reports that Prodigy has the ability to peek 
> into usr's private files on PCs. Prodigy's service access software
> copies random
> pieces of disk files into special files which can be accessed by Pordigy's 
> central computers. 
> 
> Prodigy acknowledges the situation but insists that it has never looked at the
> files and has no intention of doing so. No explanation was given on why the 
> the software was programmed to do that.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

How convenient.  Frankly I just don't care what the excuse is.  It was wrong
to know about it and not disclose it openly.  If they claim ignorance then it
was still wrong of them not to realize the risk.

Back when I had Prodigy, I recall watching the disk light blink along with 
the modem and thinking "gosh - these guys could be doing anything at all to 
my computer and I would never know".  I often thought about hooking a data
scope to the modem to find out exactly what they do that I'm not seeing.

Yes - it's paranoia - it's the same paranoia that causes me to use passwords
on my systems here at work and a lock on my house and my car.  Why should we
be expected to beleive that they're honest?  It's not like they're my best 
friend or anything like that so I should just trust them implicitly.

Not surprisingly, Prodigy has taken their usual apothetic arrogant stance.

	-Tim
-- 
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
	  In real life:  Tim Campbell - Electronic Data Systems Corp.
     Usenet:  campbell@dev8.mdcbbs.com   @ McDonnell Douglas M&E - Cypress, CA
       also:  tcampbel@einstein.eds.com  @ EDS - Troy, MI
 CompuServe:  71631,654	 	 (alias  71631.654@compuserve.com)