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From: The Moderators' <72307.1502@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: Is Prodigy snooping thru your hard disk?
Date: 02 May 91 20:49:57 EDT

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***  CuD #3.16: File 2 of 6: Is Prodigy Snooping?                ***
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We recently received the following summary of an article that appeared
in the May 1, 1991 issue of the Wall Street Journal.  No further
citation was given.  As automated access programs become more popular
(eg: Compuserve's CIM and GEnie's Aladdin) this issue will become even
more worrisome.   Not only could your email be compromised, but it is
possible that such programs could inventory your hard drive, reporting
which applications you have installed, and their serial numbers.
Would an organization, such as the SPA, sponsor such a program?  Alas
there appears to be little (if anything) that would prevent them from
doing so.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Subscribers to the popular Prodigy computer service are discovering an
unsettling quirk about the system:  It offers Prodigy's headquarters a
peek into users' own private computer files.  The quirk sends copies
of random snippets of a PC's contents into some special files in the
software Prodigy subscribers use to access the system.  Those files
are also accessible to Prodigy's central computers, which connect to
users' PCs via phone lines.  The service's officials say they're aware
of the software fluke. [ We'd use a stronger word than 'fluke' here,
but we don't write for the WSJ - CuD ]  They also confirm that it
could conceivably allow Prodigy employees to view those stray snippets
of private files that creep into the Prodigy software.  But they
insist that Prodigy has never looked at those snippets and hasn't any
intention of ever doing so.  "We couldn't get to that information
without a lot of work, and we haven't any interest in getting there,"
says Brian Ek, a Prodigy spokesman. Nevertheless, news of the odd
security breach has been stirring alarm among Prodigy users.  Many
have been nervously checking their Prodigy software to see what
snippets have crept into it, finding such sensitive data as
lawyer-client notes, private phone-lists, and accountants' tax files.
Even though Prodigy users' privacy doesn't appear to have been
invaded, the software problem points up the security risks that can
arise as the nation races to build vast networks linking PCs via
telephone lines.

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