-Caveat Lector-
I've heard this story too... And it's a hoax.
Jamie
-----Original Message-----
From: Lyn McCloskey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 1999 11:33 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [CTRL] PC Bombshell
-Caveat Lector-
http://www.zdnet.com/pccomp/stories/reviews/0,5672,391688,00.html
Bombshell
Paul Somerson, PC Computing
March 3, 1999
A shocking revelation in a little-known Minnesota legal case is about to
throw
the entire PC industry into turmoil. And unless privacy advocates are
successful
in a court challenge, everyday users may be in serious danger of being sued
or
fired. The trouble started when Lydia Profaslo, a 24-year-old sales
associate at
Polar Foil, a manufacturer of thermal insulating material, posted a
photograph
on her firm's Web site taken at a company picnic. In the photo, Profaslo is
wearing shorts and a bathing suit top.
A coworker of hers, Eve Wolensky, testified that she was walking past the
office
of a sales manager, Roger Jeffries, and happened to notice Jeffries looking
at
the photo and making an inappropriate remark. Wolensky informed Profaslo,
who
left the office in tears, and later brought a sexual harassment suit against
Jeffries and Polar.
In the ensuing trial, her attorneys asked Polar executives a routine
question
about the existence of any recordings that could shed light on the case. To
their surprise, company officials reluctantly revealed a secret that may
shake
the PC industry to its roots.
It turns out that virtually every computer system purchased after March 1996
contains a microphone, and that the IT departments at Polar and other
companies
had routinely been using special sound-activated software to record and
collect
conversations.
Microphones, which cost manufacturers less than a quarter, had been mandated
in
the 1996 IEEE RFC 0401 PC/Telephony spec, but few users have taken advantage
of
them. However, Polar's attorneys admitted that most IT departments, and even
major Internet providers, have been running special SCP (Speech Collection
Port)
software that uses the microphones to bug conversations as a "protective
measure."
The software can harvest all speech within a five-foot radius of an average
PC,
compress and store it, and send it over LANs or Internet connections to a
central collection server.
Witnesses who have listened to the recording say Jeffries was allegedly
heard to
whistle and say to himself "Nice bazongas." Jeffries, who was subsequently
fired, directed all inquiries to his lawyer.
Profaslo's legal team has argued the episode has caused her "serious
depression,
anorexia, and sleeplessness." She has filed for disability, and is suing
Polar
for $30 million in damages.
So how do you know if you're at risk for something you might have said
innocently over the past three years? Here's the sure-fire trick: If you've
ever
noticed that your hard disk "in-use" indicator light periodically goes on
for a
few seconds even when you're not typing, or saving files, it is almost
certain
that SCP software has been surreptitiously collecting and sending your
conversations either over your network or via the Internet.
It's possible to safeguard yourself against such big-brother corporate
snooping
by disabling the microphones, according to Jim Sumner, a top electrical
engineer
at Compaq. Some microphones are easy to spot--they usually sit behind
nail-sized
recessed grilles. Other more sensitive ones are hidden on motherboards.
Privacy advocates are predictably upset at this, and have brought suit to
end
the practice. Developers at one such organization, the Computer Freedom
Foundation, have created a pair of useful freeware programs. The first
detects
whether snooping has occurred, and deactivates the microphone. (It also lets
you
play back any temporary speech files still hidden on your hard disk.) The
other
replaces any untransmitted conversations with a .WAV file of actor E.G.
Marshall
reading the text of the First Amendment.
Have you said anything while at your PC that could haunt you? For
instructions
on disabling your microphones, copies of the two freeware programs, and a
patch
that adds a blinking light to your taskbar whenever your microphone is
active,
go to www.pccomputing.com/snoopfix. Hurry.
E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections 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, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
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To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
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