> From: Jon Gabriel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> IMO, the real question is... what is your ISP tracking? Is Prodigy.net > tracking your web use? Did your visit to busty_babes_&_lusty_lasses.com > last night at 4 in the morning get added to your user profile? > (Or perhaps that gayspermbank.com one that has a brin site on it?) > > And what are they going to do with this oh-so-precious information? (If we > get a vote, I want them to send me free samples of the stuff I'm surfing > around looking at.) > > <cue creepy X-files theme music> http://www.spywareinfo.com/hijacked.html "worst case scenario": The situation: Your browser now has a new start page and a new search page. You go to Tools > Internet Options to fix this, only to find that option grayed out. You open the control panel, only to find Internet Options missing from there too. You try to open regedit to start hacking away at the registry, but you're given the message that "your administrator has not given you that privilege". Some scumbag webmaster has gotten a scumbag script kiddie to truly mess up your browser settings, and has made it next to impossible for you to change it back. The Problem [and why AOL is a SCUMBAG company] There is a despicable trend that is becoming more and more common where the browser settings of web surfers are being hijacked. Browser hijacking is where malicious code of some sort, whether it be javascript, ActiveX, or some other sort of scripting, modifies your browser settings. It can also mean that your default start page has been reset from your choice to something else. Sometimes javascripts will add ready-made internet shortcuts to your favorites folder without asking you. In some cases, these changes are reversible simply by going into internet options and switching them back. Not always however. Sometimes it's necessary to edit the windows registry (gasp!) to undo the changes made. Sometimes there is even a combination of registry setting and files clandestinely placed on your hard drive that redo your settings every time you reboot the computer. No matter how often you change your settings back, they are changed again the next time you restart. There have even been cases where internet options have been removed from the tools menu by registry hacking to prevent you from controlling your own web browser! AOL has started doing something similar recently by placing it's web site free.aol.com in IE's trusted sites security zone, thereby bypassing the most frequently used security settings. This occurs after installing their AOL software, AOL Instant Messenger, Netscape 6.x, and even the latest ICQ2001b has reportedly done this. [winamp?]
