From: dstanley@tampatrib.com Sent: Monday, March 23, 1998 9:24 AM To: Charles Hymes; 'chymes@ix.netcom.com' Subject: Fwd: FW: Fw: AOL Charles, This smells like a hoax to me, but then again... Have you seen it? Know anything about it? Regards, -------------------------------------------------------------------------- + Doug Stanley The Tampa Tribune + + Staff Writer P.O. Box 191 + + The Tampa Tribune Tampa, Florida 33601 + + dstanley@tampatrib.com + + (813) 259-7364 voice + + (813) 259-7676 fax http://www.tampatrib.com + -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ______________________________ Forward Header __________________________________ Subject: Fwd: FW: Fw: AOL Author: TRIB_Florida_Metro at Trib_news_po Date: 10/21/97 10:08 AM i don't know what to make of this......... but i thought someone in the media should see this. it was forwarded to me from a friend. my name is Mark Pugliese, so i'm not anonymous. --------------------- Forwarded message: Subj: Fwd: FW: Fw: AOL Date: 97-10-19 19:48:37 EDT From: JBurns5807 To: JuniorII --------------------- Forwarded message: From: burnsrc@sakura.sparks.nv.us (Robert Burns) To: jburns5807@aol.com ('jburns5807@aol.com') Date: 97-10-18 22:53:03 EDT ---------- From: MEF1954@aol.com[SMTP:MEF1954@aol.com] Sent: Friday, October 17, 1997 10:02 AM To: DJLayland@aol.com Cc: burnsrc@sakura.sparks.nv.us; SEwing7646@aol.com Subject: Fwd: Fw: AOL --------------------- Forwarded message: Subj: Fwd: Fw: AOL Date: 97-10-16 11:01:36 EDT From: TALOUSTOY To: MEF1954 CC: P55 OHS,SKANENDOWA,RLawre8936 for your info --------------------- Forwarded message: Subj: Fwd: Fw: AOL Date: 97-10-13 16:40:19 EDT From: Raz146 To: TALOUSTOY Christine...my sister sent this to me...doesnt sound too cool.....talk to you soon...Chrisse --------------------- Forwarded message: From: tfantasia@rslcom.com (Terese Fantasia) To: kvandevrande@rslcom.com (Karen Vandevrande), nporan@rslcom.com (Nira Poran), ntarlovsky@rslcom.com (Nir Tarlovsky), lbataille@NYSBA.org (Lisa Bataille), matta@dxx.com (Karen Matta), jrock@SATURN.caps.maine.edu (Joan Rock), jschappert@rslcom.com (Jeanine Schappert), Heidi.Reinberg@Lazard.com (Heidi Reinberg), HEATHER.DUTTON@Mulberryneckwear.com (Heather Dutton), raz146@aol.com (Chrisse Rasmussen), abruckel@rslcom.com (Allison Bruckel) Date: 97-10-13 15:38:37 EDT ---------- > From: Darcy.Chin@lazard.com > To: Diana.Lupoli@lazard.com; Christa.Mueller@lazard.com; TFantasia@RSLCOM.com; Jmiddleton.NY@siny.com; diana_ortiz@sfmny.com; BigSprout@aol.com > Subject: AOL > Date: Monday, October 13, 1997 11:45 AM > > forwarded to me... > > > THIS IS FOR REAL FOLKS, VERIFIED BY ME.....EJOE > > > > >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 > something in your hard drive called a 'cookie'. (AOL members click HREF="a > ol://4344:1047.g334.8411481.532897009">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 > ************************************************************* > > > >