[pchelpers] Re: question of pornography

About a month ago I got an email that was a disguised porn invitation.  The
sender and the subject was innocuous so I opened it.  It did not have an
attachment.  It was html, I believe.  It downloaded an internet shortcut
placed on my desk top and in my start folder.
It must have been some kind of 'trojan' buried in the html of the email.  My
antivirus software never saw it.


Since then I have noticed several ads for software that reports every
keystroke.  One of those programs seems to be one promoted by law
enforcement as a way to catch criminals.   What would prevent someone from
devising a Trojan that would come in email, place itself on your hard drive
and report all your activity when you are connected to the internet.  Thus,
without a warrant, the powers of this system could infiltrate and expose any
computer use of anyone.
This AM a newsflash notified me of what is going on in the UK.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992335


It seems that anything on a computer is going to become open information,
accessible by law to who knows how many government agencies.  No wonder the
society has asked us to make sure that no confidential information of any
kind is stored on your unremovable hard drive.
From this time on we should feel that there is no such thing as a 'private'
communication using electronic means.  That would include email, fax,
telephone.  Add to the list snail mail. It seems that in the US Congress is
passing an allowance for law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches of
international mail, either incoming or outgoing.  (As an ex-employee of the
US Postal Service I am aware of the devices that can and do read mail
without ever opening an envelope.  This is now routine but does require a
warrant.  But look what is going on in Congress...
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,52739,00.html


If you are now doing as the Society has asked us and never store info on a
hard drive where unauthorized persons might have access, that is good.  But
now would be a good time to carry this one step further.  Make sure you have
either a second computer, not connected to the internet, a removable hard
drive that makes your computer act like a second machine, impenetrable
encryption, or files buried in such a way that they would be invisible to
even a computer expert.  If ever you want to talk "privately" you might want
to consider this...
https://www.stealthpost.com/
(This is a service provided to me that is open for those who want to send
and read emails in private.  The provider is a worldwide financial
institution.)


Anyway, the question about an email that downloads itself, got me to
thinking about the implications.

Take this as it is...just for your information.
Bob Weyer

----- Original Message -----
From: "Billyus" <billy.e@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <pchelpers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2002 12:26 PM
Subject: [pchelpers] question of pornography


> Hello All.........can you tell me if it's possible for pornographic
material to download to a pc without the persons knowledge.  I didn't think
so but I have been told that it can happen, and there is a site called
Altalavista.box.sk or something like that where program cracks can be found,
but it seems to be financed by advertising porn and loading porn sites if
you access these cracks............anyone know of this? and will a simple
filter help to stop this,. also can this material be sent to a person
maliciously in emails etc.........over to you
>
> Billy
>
>

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