[Privacy And Internet Security In The RAM/007/Moneypenny Age]
Mark,
First, thanks for your tireless efforts to provide sound factual
information to all of us. I've come to respect your research
ability and find that I rarely disagree with you about facts. The
following, however, is a matter of opinion about which we will simply
have to disagree:
"your privacy is not at issue"
IMHO, the SI administrators pose an indirect but significant risk to
the personal information that they are now demanding that the "lucky
100" provide to them.
There are people on this thread who pride themselves on being sleuths.
Those same people have been known to secretly audiotape conversations,
and to surreptitiously (presumably) videotape conventions. They give
themselves spy nicknames, communicate by e-mail (which is certainly
their right) , and then post on SI in "code." They brag about sending
e-mail spies, and generally have no respect whatsoever for the privacy
of others. Some of these people have strong technical skills, and most
are very good with computers. And oh yeah, I almost forgot, they NEVER
trade AMTX stock.
How many of us who aren't on the inner sanctum's e-mail distribution
list have gotten the feeling that maybe we didn't quite get all of the
hidden messages in their posts?
While many of the regulars are technically sophisticated, there are at
least some here who are not. If you don't understand exactly how your
computer magically connects to other computers when you click on one of
those pretty blue hyperlinks (or a whole string of them), then you owe
it to yourself to read the following URLs that will give you a sense of
just how insecure personal information is, even when the SI
administrators tell you that they will not give it out to anyone:
1. From Fortune magazine:
pathfinder.com@@RwhpiQcAr*iAlbTW/fortune/1997/970203/eml.html
2. From LAN magazine:
lanmag.com
3. For a great deal of additional information on this same general topic, see:
infowar.com
especially at level 1.
I originally tried to post a list of 11 additional specific URLs for articles
from the infowar.com site, but after preparing a lengthy list of URLs, was
prevented from "submitting" my response to the AMTX thread. I got a message
in my browser screen when I pressed "submit" that said something to the effect
of "I don't understand the code" and then a message that said the "content" of
my response page had "expired." Someone tried, successfully at first, to
prevent me from sharing this information with all of you.
Sounds weird, I know, but it's true. I will try to submit this message in a
"burst" mode rather than composing it in a leisurely fashion while in the SI
"response" field, to try to limit the time for the message to be intercepted
and diverted by persons unknown. If you're reading this, the plan worked.
You might want to make a note of the infowar.com site in case this message
later disappears somehow. Somebody with more technical sophistication than
me doesn't want you to hear what I have to say on this topic.
BTW, I have never posted on SI under any name other than Bozo T. Clown.
I will continue to try to share information with all of you in whatever
limited time I may have left to post on this thread, out of gratitude for
the efforts of Mark Lewin, Bob Smith, Mike Angelo, and others. But when
I'm gone, I'm gone for good. I will have no reservations about lurking and
absorbing the latest Amati/ADSL nuggets for free, because I supplied my
share of URLs while I could.
You may have noticed that I stopped using the tag line "Best Regards And
Good Luck To Us All" some time ago. I shortened the tag line to "Good Luck
To Us All," which seemed more appropriate anyway, when I realized that
Salim was still posting.
I used to think that the "mindless Amati true believers," to borrow a
phrase, were paranoid about hydras, probably because I was accused of
being one. I still think the true believers are paranoid, but at least
now I understand their reasons a little better.
Good luck to us all
Bozo T. Clopwn |
