Toadman
02-06-2001, 09:14 PM
Tech News Daily: If You Can't Say Anything Nice ...
by Jenny Baker
February 6, 2001
The stuff of nightmares:
Consider this: Next time you forward an e-mail, the original sender could have attached a bug to the message that would enable that sender to know not only to whom you send the mail, but also what you say in it. Pretty heavy, isn't it? Once you've taken a moment to grasp that possibility, move on to contemplate that this is no longer some sci-fi fantasy -- the technology to accomplish this devious feat already exists. Called an e-mail wiretap, an embedded bug allows the sender to follow a forwarded message from recipient to recipient, reading every comment added along the way. Currently, only HTML-enabled email clients such as Microsoft Outlook and Netscape 6.0 are affected; AOL users are safe for now. Richard Smith, CTO of the University of Denver's Privacy Foundation, notes that use of the bug is probably not prevalent, as it is rather difficult to figure out. He also notes that this procedure is illegal. True, but cracking is illegal too, which doesn't prevent clever folks from figuring out how to do it and pulling it off. What's that you say? Hold your tongue! Maybe we all should think twice before firing off another snide/questionable forward by email.
http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif
[This message has been edited by Toadman (edited 02-06-2001).]
by Jenny Baker
February 6, 2001
The stuff of nightmares:
Consider this: Next time you forward an e-mail, the original sender could have attached a bug to the message that would enable that sender to know not only to whom you send the mail, but also what you say in it. Pretty heavy, isn't it? Once you've taken a moment to grasp that possibility, move on to contemplate that this is no longer some sci-fi fantasy -- the technology to accomplish this devious feat already exists. Called an e-mail wiretap, an embedded bug allows the sender to follow a forwarded message from recipient to recipient, reading every comment added along the way. Currently, only HTML-enabled email clients such as Microsoft Outlook and Netscape 6.0 are affected; AOL users are safe for now. Richard Smith, CTO of the University of Denver's Privacy Foundation, notes that use of the bug is probably not prevalent, as it is rather difficult to figure out. He also notes that this procedure is illegal. True, but cracking is illegal too, which doesn't prevent clever folks from figuring out how to do it and pulling it off. What's that you say? Hold your tongue! Maybe we all should think twice before firing off another snide/questionable forward by email.
http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif
[This message has been edited by Toadman (edited 02-06-2001).]