Privacy Concerns and message to Amy Young - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Aug 12, 2004

Privacy Concerns and message to Amy Young

Date: Aug 12, 2004

Sophisticated troll trying to scare the board into shutting down?

If this is so serious, then please reveal your real identity and how you know about the supoenas.

Date: Aug 12, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Arnold Schwarzgnome
"Sophisticated troll trying to scare the board into shutting down? If this is so serious, then please reveal your real identity and how you know about the supoenas."

This board is free...there is no name on any account.

Date: Aug 12, 2004

Sue me! Sue me!
Call a lawyer and sue me!
I love you!

(Us older folks may get the reference.)

Date: Aug 12, 2004

Dear On Line and the Process Posse:

I do not pay for this board, but I post to it when I feel the urge.

Sue me, please! Come after me with all the high-priced lawyers and high-priced evidence you can get! Sue me for all I'm worth! Sue me for my blind, diabetic dog and my P.O.S. 1989 Chevy pickup (I may have identified myself)! Sue me for my boxers AND my briefs! Seek an injunction to prevent the smug smile I wear whenever I post to this site!

Gimme all you got!

Make my day, week, year, life. Sue me.

Date: Aug 12, 2004

To clarify, when a person embeds an image (I usually embed jpegs rather than gifs, BTW) on this site, they use a <IMG SRC> tag. The actual location of the image can be revealed by simply right-clicking the image & viewing it in a separate browser window. It's location (URL, not IP) is revealed in the address box on the browser. The location of an image means very little, since most of the images here are leeched from commercial sites or hosted by sympathetic 3rd parties.

It is possible to "wrap" a destructive payload (virus, worm, etc.) in a gif or jpeg image. I have yet to have my anti-virus software alert on anything on this board. Nevertheless, it is always a good idea to keep AV definitions fresh on your PC. It is also noteworthy -- and our resident trolls should take note -- that this sort of activity is illegal. And it is not a "civil offense." It is a criminal offense. Federal. I believe the actual charge would be "terrorism."

I believe that "OP" knows this. That is why I think s/he's blowing smoke.

Date: Aug 12, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Invictus
"To clarify, when a person embeds an image (I usually embed jpegs rather than gifs, BTW) on this site, they use a <IMG SRC> tag. The actual location of the image can be revealed by simply right-clicking the image & viewing it in a separate browser window. It's location (URL, not IP) is revealed in the address box on the browser. The location of an image means very little, since most of the images here are leeched from commercial sites or hosted by sympathetic 3rd parties. It is possible to "wrap" a destructive payload (virus, worm, etc.) in a gif or jpeg image. I have yet to have my anti-virus software alert on anything on this board. Nevertheless, it is always a good idea to keep AV definitions fresh on your PC. It is also noteworthy -- and our resident trolls should take note -- that this sort of activity is illegal. And it is not a "civil offense." It is a criminal offense. Federal. I believe the actual charge would be "terrorism." I believe that "OP" knows this. That is why I think s/he's blowing smoke."

Invictus, thank you so much for clarifying this for all of us. I doubt that Online Prof or others would want to spend time in a federal prison for these kinds of crimes. Antagonizing this board is one thing, but time in the Big House (and I don't mean the Dome) would be something else, indeed.

Date: Aug 12, 2004

Thanks, Invictus. This would be a good time to remind everybody that it is critical to have a good, up to date anti-virus program, and set it to run automatically. Spend the money. Also, download ad-aware version 6.0, keep it updated and run it frequently, especially if you download games and freeware. It will detect and remove spyware and adware. I also remove cookies regularly, and keep the cache clear, using Norton System Works. Eternal Vigilance is the price of surfing.

Date: Aug 12, 2004

Thanks Invictus and LVN--

OP, if you are sincere, you've done all you can. Sleep easy. If you are just trying to terrorize board posters, you gotta remember there are a lot of us who are just wacky enough to keep posting because to do otherwise would be to let you win.

BTW, a computer geek friend advises to run spybot in addition to ad-aware. I'd welcome evaluations and suggestions from those knowledgeable.

Dang intruders are like skeets: just when you think you got 'em whipped, you slap your neck.

Date: Aug 12, 2004

Sorry, OP, I do have another question. It's probably just the gossip monger in me, but you have only shared the scary part of the story. I want the back story.

If I understand a little bit of what Earl Stanley Gardner was teaching me, a subpoena issues to potential witnesses in a lawsuit. I think it is part of what the lawyers call the discovery process. In other words, you don't just run over to the subpoena store and buy one; you gotta be involved in an existing lawsuit. Surely, if your source was so kind as to share with you the fact that subpoenas would be issued, you were provided with the name of the lawsuit in which they will be filed. Inquiring minds want to know. What does all the babble on this board (mine included) have to do with any pending lawsuits?

Maybe DCeagle or some other real attorney would be willing to correct my misapprehensions in this regard.

Date: Aug 12, 2004

Invictus, can you explain to fellow board members about the inherent privacy risks in clicking on "hot links" on this board that take you to another website? I think that information would be very helpful to board members.

Date: Aug 12, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Online Prof
"I just sent the following message to Amy Young in the hopes that she will inform the posters of this board about the following situation. I said I was not going to post anymore, but because that post was deleted, I guess I can change my mind without penalty.

Instead of informing posters of this, the operators have deleted the posts.

Here is another piece of advice. Turn off the html format posting of this board and disallow posts with gifs."

You are wasting your time sending anything to Young. I don't know why you care about this anyway. Why did you warn them? Let them post their lives away.

Date: Aug 12, 2004

Indeed, for there to be a subpoena you first have to have a lawsuit.

The only active lawsuits that have been mentioned on this board are several involving Shelby Freland Thames as a defendant.

Unless, of course, "Online Prof" is planning to file one.

Online Prof, you really need to make good on your promise and leave this board.

Robert Campbell

PS. I know from my own experience as a defendant in a lawsuit (in which I was one of several people falsely accused of writing a pseudonymous email with a yahoo.com email address that allegedly defamed the plaintiff) that serving a subpoena on an ISP is a royal pain. The ISPs don't want to comply in the first place, and they rarely know anything anyway. When yahoo was finally induced to cough up the information it of course turned out that the information the user provided to open the account was utterly bogus. The only upside is that the IP addresses from which the pseudonymous emails were sent came from places where none of the defendants were at the time.

Date: Aug 12, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: leotard
" You are wasting your time sending anything to Young. I don't know why you care about this anyway. Why did you warn them? Let them post their lives away."

Online Prof=leotard

Date: Aug 12, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: truth4usm/AH
"Invictus, can you explain to fellow board members about the inherent privacy risks in clicking on "hot links" on this board that take you to another website? I think that information would be very helpful to board members."

Almost all web servers log some specific information about every "request" that it receives. This information is saved in log files, which can be immense even on smaller sites. This information can also be displayed on a web page using a "server side include" (SSI). Additionally, a page can create its own discrete log file (if it is programmed properly) to record the information in an easier to analyze format.

Click this link to get an idea of some of the information that is logged when you visit a website.

Similarly, if I were to embed an image in this message like this picture of Miss Information's automobile:

... the server where the image is hosted will record the IP address, browser type, time, etc. for the request that pulls down the image file.

As I indicated earlier, most people do not have static, unchanging IP addresses. If one uses a dial-up modem service, the IP is dynamically assigned when the connection is made. Most DSL connections are also dynamic & the IP addresses are changed according to schedules set by the internet service provider. (Commercial DSL accounts often have static addresses.) Cable modems may have dynamic or static IP addresses. I do not know whether IPs on the USM campus network are dynamic or static. Most likely it is a mix with some offices having static addresses & others dynamic addresses. It is also possible that the dynamic addresses aren't refreshed very often.

It is not possible to determine a person's identity directly from an IP address. However, it is often possible to determine the person's internet provider from the IP address & also to figure out approximately where the person is located. We know, for example, that several of the trolls around here use the same internet service provider & that they are not located in Hattiesburg.

As you already know, IP addresses can also be used by the board moderator to determine if a person is posting under two different aliases.

Bear in mind also that, as Opie has indicated, your IP address will also appear in the headers of your email. This includes some of the free email services like Yahoo.

Is this enough Mixed Up Confusion for one day?

Date: Aug 12, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by: Done Gone
"Sue me for my blind, diabetic dog and my P.O.S. 1989 Chevy pickup . . . Sue me for my boxers AND my briefs!"

My thoughts precisely, Done Gone. Thanks in part to USM, and thanks in part to me for being stupid enough to let them do it to me, getting $$$ from me would be like getting blood from a turnip. Or is it a raddish. Perhaps they would like to assume my credit card debts too.

If suppressing freedom of speech is what they want to do, perhaps they might find it easier to go after those Mississippi Medicaid recipients who exercised their freedom of speech not very long ago by objecting publicly to benefit reductions, verbally and in writing. And if they can't get into the pockets of that group, perhaps they would like to go after the wallets of any number of disabled or disadvantaged persons who also exercised the freedoms this great nation affords by taking their grievances to Washington and elsewhere via all sorts of means, including message boards such as this. And if those pockets are found empty, perhaps they could go after the meager possessions of those persons by confiscating their broken down automobiles and reselling them.

I have never before seen outsiders, such as we have seen recently, try to suppress or interfere with the discussion of topics which are of legitimate interest and concern to the faculty. Discussions of such topics are not unique to USM. They are of concern, and are discussed, on the campuses of all of the colleges and universities which which I am familiar. Why would outsiders get involved in the topics discussed on this message board any more than faculty members would get involved in outside mattrs such as how "Chainsaw Al" ran Sunbeam?

USM stakeholder (on at least 3 counts)

Date: Aug 12, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Online Prof
"
I have received information about plans to subpoena the host of this website....

The purpose of the subpoena is to find out whose name the account is in and who is paying for the website. Once that information is obtained, a civil suit is going to be filed against the payer. "

and my dad can beat up your dad... Nya, Nya, Nya.

This is pure fiction. What a loser!

Date: Aug 12, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: truth4usm/AH
"Invictus, can you explain to fellow board members about the inherent privacy risks in clicking on "hot links" on this board that take you to another website? I think that information would be very helpful to board members."

Truth and Invictus--

Uh, oh.

The one tech trick I know (and it ain't much) is how to cut and paste cold links using that little chain icon at the top of the screen. I thought I was helping. Would it be better if I just let folks figure out best they can how to access outside sites?

Date: Aug 12, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: hot link
" Truth and Invictus-- Uh, oh. The one tech trick I know (and it ain't much) is how to cut and paste cold links using that little chain icon at the top of the screen. I thought I was helping. Would it be better if I just let folks figure out best they can how to access outside sites? "

It's fine if you do that. It's up to individual posters to then decide if they want to click on the link or not.

Thanks for trying to help, though!

Date: Aug 12, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: leotard
"

You are wasting your time sending anything to Young. I don't know why you care about this anyway. Why did you warn them? Let them post their lives away."

oh, its because he's a troll. havent you heard? :)

lol