AOL's Steve Case Accused of Being a Peeping Tom A letter from an Ex-Employee >**** Read this information even if you're not on AOL - it will remind you to keep certain things on disc and not your hard drive! Pass it onto others!
>_______________________________________________________________________________
>Subject: AOL & BIG BROTHER
>
>>
>> In a message dated 97-10-06 20:52:39 EDT, Binnie7 writes:
>>
>> << From a former AOL employee:
>>
>> I'll try and cut through the crap, and try to get to the point of
this
>> letter. I used to work for America Online, and would like to remain
>> anonymous for that reason. I was laid off in early September, but I
>> know exactly why I was laid off, which I will now explain:
>>
>> Since last December, I had been one of the many people assigned to
>> design AOL 4.0 for Windows (AOL 4.0 beta, codenamed Casablanca). In
>> the beginning, I was very proud of this task, until I found out the
>> true
>> cost of it. Things were going fine until about mid-February, when me
>> and 2 of my colleagues started to suspect a problem, an unexplainable
>> 'Privacy Invasion', with the new version. One of them, who is a
master
>> programmer, copied the finished portion of the new version (Then
'Build
>> 52'), and took it home, and we spent nearly 2 weeks of sleepless
nights
>> examining and debugging the program, flipping it inside-out, and here
>> is
>> what we found.
>>>> Unlike all previous versions of America Online, version 4.0 puts
Steve Case of AOL Being Punished for Being a
Peeping Tom.Illustration: Bernard Montorgueil, from works variously entitled
The Four Thursdays, Dressage, A Piquante Brunette, 30s
From "Erotica Universalis", Gilles Neret
©1994 TASCHEN
Available At: Blockbooks.com
>> something in your hard drive called a 'cookie'. (AOL members click
here
>for
>> a
>> definition). However, the cookie we found on Version 4.0 was far
more
>> treacherous than the simple internet cookie. How would you like
>> somebody looking at your entire hard drive, snooping through any
(yes,
>> any) piece of information on your hard drive. It could also read
your
>> password and log in information and store it deep in the program
code.
>> Well, all previous versions, whether you like it or not, have done
this
>> to a certain extent, but only with files you downloaded. As me and
my
>> colleagues discovered, with the new version, anytime you are signed
on
>> to AOL, any top aol executive, any aol worker, who has been sworn to
>> secrecy regarding this feature, can go into your hard drive and
>> retrieve
>> any piece of information that they so desire. Billing, download
>> records, e-mail, directories, personal documents, programs, financial
>> information, scanned images, etc ... Better start keeping all those
>> pictures on a floppy disk!
>>
>> This is a totally disgusting violation of our rights, and your right
to
>> know as well. Since this is undoubtably 'Top Secret' information
that
>> I
>> am revealing, my life at AOL is pretty much over. After discovering
>> this information, we started to inform a few other workers at America
>> Online, so that we could get a large enough crew to stop this from
>> happening to the millions of unfortunate and unsuspecting America
>> Online
>> members. This was in early August. One month later, all three of us
>> were unemployed. We got together, and figured there was something we
>> had to do to let the public know.
>>
>> Unemployed, with one of us going through a divorce (me) and another
who
>> is about to undergo treatment for Cancer, our combined financial
>> situation is not currently enough to release any sort or article. We
>> attepted to create a web page on three different servers containing
>> in-depth information on AOL 4.0, but all three were taken down within
2
>> days. We were running very low on time (4.0 is released early this
>> winter), so we figured our last hope to reveal this madness before it
>> effects the people was starting something similar to a chain letter,
>> this letter you are reading. Please do the following, to help us
>> expose
>> AOL for who they really are, and to help us and yourself recieve
>> personal gratification for taking a stand for our freedom:
>>
>> 1. Forward this letter to as many people as you can (not just
friends
>> and family, as many as you can!)
>>
>> 2. Tell people who aren't on America Online in person, especially
>> important people (Private Investigators, Government workers, City
>> Council)
>>
>> 3. If the information about the new version isn't exposed by the
time
>> aol is released early this winter, for your own protection, DON'T
>> DOWNLOAD AOL 4.0 UNDER ANY CONDITION !!!
>>
>> Thank you for reading and examining this information. Me and my
>> colleagues hope that you will help us do the right thing in this
>> situation. Enjoy America Online (just kidding!).
>>
>> Regards,
>> A former AOL employee
>
>
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