Send me some mail
I received this today, forwarded from an acquaintance who was concerned. It's really dumb. Unfortunately, the guy who wrote it sounds like he might be someone who knows what he's talking about unless you know the industry well enough to realise he doesn't.
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).
America Online does not code-name its products. Microsoft does. AOL doesn't. Are you confused?
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.
How exactly did those of you on the design team begin to "suspect" a problem? Are you saying that you were unaware of how the software you were designing operated? Do you really expect us to believe that you created a software product with secret hidden features you just "didn't notice"?
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.
Let me get this straight. The designers of the program needed two weeks to figure out what the program they designed does? How does that qualify any of you as a 'master programmer'? How does it qualify any of you as programmers in the first place? You weren't laid off for what you knew. You were laid off because you were incompetent! And if you have the software over there, why don't you hand it over to the DOJ and let them look at it? You do still have the software, right? Or were you dumb enough to delete it after you found this little feature? Well, it doesn't matter. If you just go grab the client software off AOL, you can show us exactly how all of this works, right? Including protocol definitions? Why don't you explain to us the way that AOL's internal network protocol operates and how you can do this sort of thing?
Unlike all previous versions of America Online, version 4.0 puts 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.
This isn't a cookie. What you describe here is a Trojan Horse, which any 'master programmer' would be able to recognise at once. Calling it a cookie is technically inept, blatantly uninformed, and appeals primarily to the psychological frenzy over the misunderstanding of cookies and what they are and what they do.
How would you like somebody looking at your entire hard drive, snooping through any (yes, any) piece of information on your hard drive.
You know what? In the eighties, Prodigy was accused of this exact same thing. So not only is your accusation bogus and stupid, it's not even ORIGINAL. Please, people! Give us some credit! There ARE real, technical people out here that can see through your crap!
It could also read your password and log in information and store it deep in the program code.
The America Online user database has always stored this information to a rather extensive degree. On their site, not your hard drive. Why would they store it on your hard drive? They already have it.
Well, all previous versions, whether you like it or not, have done this to a certain extent, but only with files you downloaded.
Note: AOL tracks the number of times a specific file has been downloaded from the library, and the screen names of ALL people who have downloaded it (within certain time constraints) are available from the database. This is completely normal. Almost all online services do this. It helps them target you with advertisements.
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.
No, they can't. This is illegal. It is an invasion of privacy which exposes America Online to serious criminal and civil liability, and I really don't think any company that's been in court as much as AOL has would take that lightly.
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.
Intriguingly, some of the things that AOL can now access are things AOL has always been able to access. So is it possible that this 'warning' is motivated by something other than letting the public know? Is it possible that this person is trying to press psychological buttons to raise a hue and cry against AOL?
Since this is undoubtably 'Top Secret' information that I am revealing, my life at AOL is pretty much over.
But you were already laid off. How did you expect to have a life there anyway?
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.
No, no, no. See, when you have real information that the public needs to know and you can DEMONSTRATE it, then people pay YOU to write articles. So releasing the information free is just plain stupid, since you can all obviously use the money.
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.
So you're saying that when you tried to set up web pages, they were taken down. Why? By who? Is it possible that the information you're reporting is untrue, slanderous, and likely to cause commercial liability to AOL in direct violation of federal and international law? Which servers did you put the web pages up on? Do you realise that if your information is in fact true, you can hold those server operators liable for this? Do you realise that AOL is open to severe penalties if this information is correct? Why haven't you gone to the authorities? This is illegal! AOL can be shut down for doing this! Why are you out spreading the word in such an inefficient fashion?
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.
We are: we're IGNORING you. You're lying. This is a pathetic attempt to cause a panic.
Enjoy America Online (just kidding!).
Enjoy your little giggles at the expense of the public. Some of us know better. And THIS web page isn't coming down.
Regards, A former AOL employee
Why the anonymity? Because you never worked for America Online and have no idea how they operate? Because you don't have the first damn clue about how they build large software products? Because you're a rabble-rousing liar with nothing better to do, so you decided to slander a large service provider?
I am also a former AOL employee. I don't like their business practices much, either. but this accusation is nothing short of idiotic! How stupid do you think we are, anyway? And with respect to whether the AOL 4.0 client is 'safe' -- I don't know. What I *do* know is that the above accusation is ill-constructed, uninformed, and if I had a programmer working for me who would believe this crap I'd fire him too.