posted on December 23, 1999 04:39:46 PM new
Paranoid or Truth?
Auction Software takeover by ebay of Blackthorn.
Free Software. Start giving it away and use it to gather user information with out the users knowledge. Use it to steal information off peoples computer.
Ah, you and many software ware companies say it is not being done nor can it be done. Well I am only an intermediate novice computer user, and I CAN DO IT! Pretty easy! Lets take for instance A simple HTML tag
that even a novice can use to gain personal information about you while you visit there web site.
Sample: (for some unknown reason when I try to post the working example the Auction watch will not allow the example to show up), So here is a sample.
input type=hidden name="env_report" value="REMOTE_HOST,HTTP_USER_AGENT"
or
input type=hidden name="env_report" value="email"
or
input type=hidden name="env_report" value="list_serial_number"
or
input type=hidden name="env_report" value="list_software_registration_data"
From these tags I can secretly obtain your email address and IP address off of your computer and server, without your knowledge, such all software titles on you computer, the serial numbers and to whom they are registered and lots of other personal info..
Here is the deal with AOL buyout and Netscaper Browser and ICQ. I have been using Netscape Browser sense its release and it has been my favorite, until AOL bought it out and started releasing new updates.
More specifically I find that in the auto update feature, unknown to most people that Netscape now transmits
information to AOL about your system serial number,
software on your system, and cookies listed on your system, name the computer is registered to and common address that is part of your systems initial setup. I contacted AOL about this and I was told that this feature was to simply insure the best service and performance of you Netscape software. By the way the newer versions of ICQ also have this auto update feature, that does the same thing.
So you GUESS, what do you think ebay will do with the most popular auction software. Yes they will probably give it away at some point to entice you. How could they afford it? The same way AOL afford to give out Netscape and ICQ. By gathering information that they resale.
This is not a black helicopter story, this is happening right now, everyday, with other software on your computer. Find out for yourself by downloading a trial copy of a peice of software called GuardDOG and you will see how many sites evoke GuardDogs security breech feature. When you access many corporate web page such as http://www.msn.com/ , Yahoo.com, or linkexchange.com and you will see that many sites will not allow you access. See the organizations trying to gater information about YOU!
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Re: Mark's comment.
Well Mark If you do not value your privacy at all, good for you, or not. I am NOT only referring to name and email address. It goes much further. Name, finding their address, validating social security numbers, finding unlisted phone numbers, personal credit information, viewing individuals previous employment history
and obtaining email logs from an individuals ISP mail server, physical address, telephone number, computer serial number, whom your computer is registered to, the software and serial number of all software on your computer, your internet browsing habits, where you visit on the net, what you buy on the net, have you ever been to an
Internet site that others may disagree with, personal information stored on your computer, SS#, credit card numbers, bank statements, and on and on.
Well you may say bull... but I say the technology is here and being used. One such company that does this can be found at: http://www.21CR.com/assets/
and an Excellent artice titled: ABC 2020 - Information Brokers - Secrets For Sale. Can be found at: http://www.infowar.com/class_1/99/class1_070499a_j.shtml
Still don't care? Rent the Video: Enemy of the State with Gene Hackman and Will Smith. Say this is bull and a movie fantasy. Well how about I personally know a
previous naval intelligence officer and guess what, it is being done, everyday. American Citizens on American soil.
Still don't care, well maybe some think we should do away with the constitution or any other free rights?
Note: ******
Hey by the way, I say a news report last night on my local station, Dec.22, 1999, where a new study shows that the drug Ritilin is now found to be good for your children. It said it makes them smarter, more pleasant, less likley to turn to other drugs and addictions in later years.
I find this intresting sense another study I saw this summer found Ritilin to be highly addictive, possibly cause permanant brain changes, increase likly hood of hard drug use in adults, that were on it as childrecn In case you don't know Ritilin is a cousin to the drug 'Meth...'
posted on December 23, 1999 06:57:44 PM new
alchemycht
To make the charge that the purchase of Blackstone's auction assistant was made so that eBay could mine the hard drives of its users is, IMO, a stretch.
The reasoning and, I feel purpose of that purchase is to prevent this comparatively successful third-party auction software marketer from expanding the number of auctions supported by that software. Thus, those who use this software are "captives" of eBay, chained to the site by their usage of this software tool.
Having said that, my next observation is that your post is perfect evidence that trust in eBay is rapidly disappearing.
While I take solace that this lack of trust is aimed at eBay and not auctions.com, I know that to many, eBay is the online auction market.
That's a shame too, as we at auctions.com have taken extreme measures to be straightforward, trustworthy and aboveboard.
I'll point to only one example here, although there are many. That is the reserve auction situation.
I feel it is misleading to fail to mark reserve auctions as that is "truth in advertising."
Yet other sites give preference to reserve auctions as the reserve seller gets the benefit of an "apparent" low price while avoiding the obligation to sell for what amounts to a bogus low bid price. Indeed, the advantage is so great that eBay found that after some initial rumbling, sellers are willing to pay extra for the privilege.
Auctions.com, on the other hand, marks its reserve auctions with a simple red R icon on the "listing page". I call it truth in advertising.
To me, this builds trust between buyers and sellers. For online auctions to work over the long term, trust is essential.
