Well, in a way they do run the show. But with the presents for them. Here's (pardon for crossposting) the tale of a desillusioned cyberchild who hoped to get on the safe side, finally, with a M$ product:
--------------------quote:-------------- #Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 17:28:33 +0000 #From: Paul Mobbs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> #To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] #Reply-To: Paul Mobbs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> #Subject: [Ir-l] Privacy threat of Windows XP's firewall -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hash: SHA1 Hi all, Just been reading some more interesting techie babble on Windows XP and come up with something people should publicise. Windows XP comes with a firewall on the Internet connection -- great, you can't be hacked! BUT IT ONLY WORKS ONE WAY -- monitoring the data coming into the system, but not going out. This means that any program installed on the machine, be it mundane or malicious, can send out without you knowing about it. One of the primary reasons for this seems to be so that software writers can let their software use your Internet connection to send data home about your use of their products without you interfering with the process. This also means that detecting unlicensed versions in use will be a lot easier. But it also means that if you get some sort of Trojan or worm on your system, it will be able to make a socket to the 'Net and send out data without your systems detecting it (one of the added security features of a two-way firewall)-- for example the FBI's new little toy, currently in development, that hacks its way silently into your system via an email virus and then send them your encryption keys. Once again it seems Microsoft's corporate greed triumphs over the safety and security of Internet use. Yet another good reason not to install XP -- or if you do make sure you load a third party firewall that works both ways. P. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.4 (GNU/Linux) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE8C7ZBtEaNwM05jx0RAtYeAJ9JbgV8TgG9Aaw/UZ5L1GdoPIrY3ACgvRAv 7tKBidwPLWe3OLvCojmdWto= =KNeo -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ Ir-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/ir-l -------------------unquote.------------- // Heimo Claasen // <hammer at revobild dot net> // Brussels 2001-12-17 The WebPlace of ReRead - and much to read ==> http://www.revobild.net To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message. Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies. More info can be found at; http://www.softcon.com/archives/SURVPC.html
