Letters to PC World
Your take on sharing music files, Trojan horses, and online safety.
From the July 2001 issue of PC World magazine
Posted Friday, May 18, 2001
I am the Webmaster of a company that has received numerous threats of fines and ISP disconnection because of so-called spamming [Consumer Watch, May]. I say 'so-called' because I believe most people surfing the Web are totally ignorant about their actions. How many times you have truly read and understood a site's policy or the fine print on an online form? You might just have given that site permission to send you e-mail. And some businesses like to legitimately use e-mail to solicit business.
Thank goodness the U.S. Postal Service still works! Imagine if the USPS blocked snail mail the way ISPs are blocking e-mail: "Sorry! Your post office is no longer allowed to deliver mail because of spamming."
Jim Lester, Melbourne, Florida
I too ran afoul of Hotmail's Use of Services agreement by using my Hotmail address to post classified ads on Internet newsgroups. I was not running a business, just trying to get rid of some stuff around the house. I was banished from Hotmail without warning. No problem: Within an hour, I was set up with another free e-mail account. In addition, I had carefully saved copies of all critical e-mail messages onto my PC just in case my account became inoperable. Hotmail's diligence had its limitations, though: Whenever I logged on to that account, it would be overflowing with spam.
Jay Thompson, Timmonsville, South Carolina
Windows XP--Xpect a Hassle?
Does anyone besides me have a problem with sending Microsoft a "fingerprint" of my PC as part of the price for installing the upcoming Windows XP [Top of the News, May]? How do we know what is being sent, how it will be used, and how secure it all is? Of course Microsoft will swear to keep it anonymous, not to misuse it, and so on. This [Product Activation plan] and the thought of listening to Microsoft's hold music for heaven knows how long whenever I obtain a new hard drive or sound card makes XP a nonstarter for me.
It looks to me as though the X might just stand for Xtortion.
Dennis Poledna, Glendora, California
Author's response: If you buy Windows XP preinstalled on a new computer, you won't have to go through the Product Activation hassle, according to Microsoft. If you go through the installation process, whether you are upgrading an existing OS or doing a clean install, you will be subject to the new constraints. We plan to test the feature thoroughly in upcoming coverage. --Scott Spanbauer
Keeping Kids Safe Online
I just read your tips for keeping kids safe online ["Safe Kids," May]. While this is a noble purpose, almost everything you suggest is full of holes. I'll be turning 21 soon and have been online since I was 13 or so, and I can tell you that only the threat of discovery will keep a kid out of online trouble.
If I wanted to make certain my child was safe online, the only measure I'd trust would be to put the computer in a common area such as the living room. Teenagers (as I can well testify) are deeply interested in going places and seeing things they shouldn't, and without the fear of getting caught, they will.
I had a computer in my bedroom while I was growing up, and though my parents owned it, I was in control of it. Browser history and cookies can be deleted, and IP addresses can be masked. To a teenager with even a little computer savvy, such tasks are simple, and from that point there are virtually no limits to online activity. The only way a child's online life can be monitored is with a physical presence.
Adam Durell, Barberton, Ohio
No Trojan Horses Here
May's article "Dot Cons" made a claim for which I've yet to find any support:
"Currently, these crooks' weapons of choice are Trojan horse programs, which typically arrive as e-mail attachments that look like harmless programs or innocuous files such as JPEG images. Double-click the files, though, and you launch a hostile program that may swipe your passwords or give hackers access to your PC and all the information therein."
Can the author provide me with even one example where a Trojan horse program has been included in a JPEG file? I don't think so.
Paul Montgomery, Chicago
Editor's response: The Trojan horse files aren't in JPEG format but masquerade as such. We apologize if we didn't make this clear enough. --Harry McCracken
Music File Sharing
Amidst the ongoing controversy about Napster, MP3, and the recording industry, I wonder if anyone has seriously considered trying the "shareware" model. Perhaps we could all download songs or albums, try them for 30 days, and then send in payment if we decide to keep them.
This would solve the problem of paying 16 bucks for a CD only to find just one good song (or none) on it. Granted, there will be cheaters who do not pay, but dishonest people will always find their way around any system we put in place.
Ken Wenzler, Waukesha, Wisconsin
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