-Caveat Lector- ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Don Carnage" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: utanews: Qouva's Top Secret IP Scans Date: Mon, 06 Nov 2000 17:56:14 +0200 [from SecurityFocus (http://www.securityfocus.com) Scanning Mystery Solved A once-secretive startup company scanning the Internet has revealed its purpose. By Kevin Poulsen November 2, 2000 1:18 PM PT A startup company whose stealthy probing of Internet hosts sparked a security backlash earlier this year has unveiled the end result of its global scanning: a system that pin-points the geographic location of Internet users in real time. Quova, Inc. (http://www.quova.com/service.htm) calls the service "GeoPoint," and touts it as a way for web companies to personalize their visitor's browsing experience without relying on cookies or the registration information users provide voluntarily. "E-tailers can automatically promote Red Sox hats in Boston and Giants shirts in San Francisco-with city or zip code level resolution," said company CEO Rajat Bhargava in the company's inaugural press release. The system relies on a database that translates Internet IP addresses to physical locations. To build that database, the company began electronically tracing the routes to virtually every Internet address -- four billion addresses in all -- assigned to corporate, governmental and home users around the world. In the process, Quova touched intrusion detection systems from Wisconsin to Brazil, angering network administrators increasingly sensitized to anything that may auger a hack attack -- even the common and generally harmless 'pings' and 'traceroutes' used by the company. Some of the piqued administrators likened the scanning to a burglar looking for unlocked doors, while others complained about the false alarms the probes produced. Security pros vowed to filter any traffic from the company, and Quova's network briefly fell under a denial of service attack. Critics of the practice were particularly aggravated by Quova's studied silence on the question of what, exactly, it was up to. With that question answered, Quova's scanning continues, taking in what the company describes as "hundreds of millions of data points" each day. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Exposure to the internet retards psychic acuity. Microprocessors sap and impurify the will, sinking the brain into an electrically charged cesspool of static. Reliance on computers reduces the junkie to a slobbering automaton, dancing on strings held by the Illuminist bolsheviks of Silicon Valley. Dendrites snap...neurons decay...axons are reduced to a thin white gruel, a paste that was once a living mind. http://www.merlin.org http://www.mediachannel.org/views/oped/neo.shtml http://www.ddh.nl/nwd/2000/index-eng.html http://www.angelfire.com/mi/smilinks/thirdeye.html _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
