Xref: utzoo comp.org.eff.talk:2458 alt.privacy:706 alt.censorship:2404 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!isc-br!tau-ceti!dogear!kharma!dave From: dogear!kharma!dave@isc-br!tau-ceti Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk,alt.privacy,alt.censorship Subject: Re: Prodigy charged with invading users' privacy Message-ID: Date: 27 May 91 08:30:21 GMT References: <1991May24.225008.6510@unlinfo.unl.edu> Organization: The Computer Concern of Springdale, WA (1-800-786-1709) Lines: 70 greg@hoss.unl.edu (Lig Lury Jr.) writes: > dave@kharma writes: > >jrbd@craycos.com (James Davies) writes: > > >>Why would anyone want part of a spreadsheet, anyway? Why wasn't the whole > >>thing there? > > >I haven't the foggiest idea. I'm not even certain why so little valid > >information could be of use. But it *is* in there, including the graphic > >driver (95% intact) for the client's HP Paint Jet printer. > > >>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? > > >Damned good question. I feel, like you, that much of this affair is overblow > >beyond true proportions. > > One reason why bits and pieces would be targeted would be that you would > get a more various data. Grabbing an entire file when only parts of it > may give you enough information for database purposes would be a waste of > transfer time. Grabbing portions of several files gets you more > information. > > There is the possibility that the program is exploiting the fact that > the disk sectors do still contain deleted information. How hard would it > be for them to tell the system where EOF was? > > >> Just putting out ideas. I'm not familiar with the OS being referred to in >> this discussion. If you had created a new file of one sector in size, >> deleted it, and then created a new file of 0 length, would you have your >> file back in this situation? > Well, I did some considerable homework this weekend, including a trip to a research library. It *is* entirely possible that what has happened is that Prodigy's STAGE.DAT has picked up whatever was in RAM memory, at the time, as one user has suggested. It is also possible that the disk sectors contained deleted data, too. After nearly a whole day spent reading voluminous garbage, I think I have a handle on what has happened. Prodigy blew it, not from a point of spying on people, but on stifling an honest, open response to the public's concern. In other words, the worst thing they did wrong was a PR gaffe of monstrous proportions. There are other reasons for my decision...I will list them briefly: 1. During a recent Prodigy session, other than my keystrokes, my modem's SD light never flickered once. If they were taking data off my system, wouldn't that require that I *send data* out? 2. When I did a cold boot, using a system diskette, without the .BIN file my hard disk requires, and used a new STAGE.DAT that I personally checked, nothing in STAGE.DAT changed. However, when I booted from the hard disk, deliberately loaded Wordperfect, and then exitted, LO and behold, I had pieces of the Wordperfect text in the STAGE.DAT...from RAM memory. 3. I repeated the above exercise several times, and never saw any indication that my terminal was sending data out, except during the times when I was typing responses to Prodigy's prompts. That isn't to say I don't think that Prodigy *COULD* be doing something funky in the past. There are a *lot* of unanswered questions left over from when the fiasco first started. I will always wonder what they really had in mind with STAGE.DAT, probably never will really trust them, and do not recommend that anyone with sensitive data on their hard disk call them without taking precautions. Gee, does this make me sound paranoic? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - isc-br!tau-ceti!dogear!kharma!dave [dave@kharma] Dave Laird, SysOp: kharma The Computer Concern, Springdale, WA 258-7109 or 1-800-786-7109 kharma: 509-233-8474 (Local from Spokane Area) 24hrs 1200-14400 (HST)