sss10@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Homicidal Lunatic) (05/04/91)
I wanted to ask a question about the amiga because of something I read in
today's paper about prodigy. this is the quote:
"Users <of prodigy> have been startled to find their own personal tax
information, passwords, private phone directories... in a computer file, called
stage.dar, one of many that Prodigy creates in the hard disk on a user's
personal computer. The file is automatically created when the software is
installed by the user.
"Brian Ek, a spokesman for the White Plains-based company, said that Prodigy
does not snoop in people's personal files. Ek said that none of the personal
information in the Prodigy file is leaving thei computers.
"'The bottom line is, we don't retrieve any of this information and we have no
plans to,' he said, although he noted that it was technically possible for
Prodigy to program its computers so that they could access subscribers'
personal computers. To quell Prodigy users' qualms, he said, the company would
soon be offering a free corrective program to wipe clean the space allocated
by the file of any personal data.
"Ek explained that the Prodigy software creates the file on a user's hard disk
where frequently called images ... are stored... [this makes it easier to
retrieve apparantly. Kinda like Skipix on the amiga eh?]
"The problem is at its worst when the Prodigy software is first installed on
subscribers' computers. The software occupies more than 200,000 bytes of space
on the computer's hard disk- some of it containing the personal files that
users thought they had addressed. Ek said many users don't understand that when
they "erase" files on their computers, the data continues to exist until it is
written over by new programs. The problem gradually eases the more Prodigy is
used: the larger the stage.dat file grows, the more likely that it will
overwrite the personal files the users thought were erased."
<from NY Newsday, pp. 47-48, 5/3/91>
I'm confused. And I wonder if this is possible on the amiga as well which is
why I decided to post this here. Please follow up in the appropriate groups.
<whats the messy dos group and are they talking about this at all?>
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"All power comes from the barrel of a gun" //
sss10@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu \\ // Amiga makes it possibly
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