Xref: utzoo comp.org.eff.talk:2424 alt.privacy:663 alt.censorship:2379
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!pikes!aspen.craycos.com!jrbd
From: jrbd@craycos.com (James Davies)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk,alt.privacy,alt.censorship
Subject: Re: Prodigy charged with invading users' privacy
Message-ID: <1991May22.154239.3777@craycos.com>
Date: 22 May 91 15:42:39 GMT
References: <1991May1.015111.6232@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu> <7msB32w164w@kharma.UUCP>
Organization: Cray Computer Corporation
Lines: 18

In article <7msB32w164w@kharma.UUCP> dave@kharma writes:

{installing Prodigy on a bulk-erased disk left parts of a spreadsheet
in STAGE.DAT, therefore Prodigy is snarfing personal information}

Sigh.  This rumor apparently isn't going to go away, is it?

Did you clear the memory of your machine first (by doing a power-off
reboot)?

Why would anyone want part of a spreadsheet, anyway?  Why wasn't the whole
thing there?

I think that remembering Occam's Razor would be a good idea at this point.

I'll repeat a point I made a few weeks ago:  Prodigy could transfer your 
stuff directly from the original file.  Why would they bother to put it in
STAGE.DAT first?