Slashdot Mirror

Bad cut and paste on my part. But here's the same hot breaking news from 2003 and from 1997.

The average AOL user is reason to doubt darwin

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-205683.html?legacy=c net
http://www.aolwatch.org/checksub.htm
http://www.aolwatch.org/list/0079.html

Back in 1997, a 28 year old staff attorney for AOL named Andrew Lewis Singer plead guilty to fondling an 11 year old boy in a DC area park after showing up to meet a teenage boy he found on AOL:
- begin article -
E-Mail Leads Authorities to AOL Lawyer
Va. Man Is Charged In Assault on Boy, 11

By Peter Pae and Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 6, 1997; Page D01
The Washington Post

A lawyer for America Online Inc. -- charged with sexually assaulting an 11-year-old Loudoun County boy at a pond last week -- went there after
exchanging AOL e-mail with another boy who said he would be there that afternoon, the sheriff's department said yesterday.

Investigators said they identified Andrew Lewis Singer, 28, after learning of the online exchange and tracing it to him. Authorities said Singer used the screen name "DCBOY83" to trade AOL "instant mail" with a teenager one afternoon last week, then drove from AOL headquarters in Dulles to the pond in Ashburn Farm.

After meeting the teenager there, officials say, Singer asked him about the 11-year-old fishing across the small lake, and then went over to him. After starting a conversation, Singer allegedly put his hand in the boy's pants and fondled him before walking away.
[...]
Primrose would not say whether Singer's status as an AOL employee gave him access to information about subscribers, such as lists of children who use AOL "chat rooms" meant only for young people.

She said, however, that "procedures are in place which govern the level of access to subscribers' information based on the employee's job."
[...]
Sheriff's officials said the teenage boy reported the online conversation after he heard about the alleged assault. He said Singer had asked him what he was doing that afternoon, and the boy responded that he was going to get ice cream and play basketball with a friend near the pond, investigators said. The teenager said he was surprised when Singer showed up.
[snip]

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-205683.html?legacy=c net
http://www.aolwatch.org/checksub.htm
http://www.aolwatch.org/list/0079.html

Back in 1997, a 28 year old staff attorney for AOL named Andrew Lewis Singer plead guilty to fondling an 11 year old boy in a DC area park after showing up to meet a teenage boy he found on AOL:
- begin article -
E-Mail Leads Authorities to AOL Lawyer
Va. Man Is Charged In Assault on Boy, 11

By Peter Pae and Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 6, 1997; Page D01
The Washington Post

A lawyer for America Online Inc. -- charged with sexually assaulting an 11-year-old Loudoun County boy at a pond last week -- went there after
exchanging AOL e-mail with another boy who said he would be there that afternoon, the sheriff's department said yesterday.

Investigators said they identified Andrew Lewis Singer, 28, after learning of the online exchange and tracing it to him. Authorities said Singer used the screen name "DCBOY83" to trade AOL "instant mail" with a teenager one afternoon last week, then drove from AOL headquarters in Dulles to the pond in Ashburn Farm.

After meeting the teenager there, officials say, Singer asked him about the 11-year-old fishing across the small lake, and then went over to him. After starting a conversation, Singer allegedly put his hand in the boy's pants and fondled him before walking away.
[...]
Primrose would not say whether Singer's status as an AOL employee gave him access to information about subscribers, such as lists of children who use AOL "chat rooms" meant only for young people.

She said, however, that "procedures are in place which govern the level of access to subscribers' information based on the employee's job."
[...]
Sheriff's officials said the teenage boy reported the online conversation after he heard about the alleged assault. He said Singer had asked him what he was doing that afternoon, and the boy responded that he was going to get ice cream and play basketball with a friend near the pond, investigators said. The teenager said he was surprised when Singer showed up.
[snip]

The upside, of course, is that she lost her $25,000 a year intern job that she didn't like anyway, and with her new status as a horny intern with some literacy skills, she'll be pulling in much more than that just for the advance on her tell-all book. In fact, that gives me an idea -- perhaps I'll start talking smack about the people I work with.....

Hmmph - you can count me among the people who wrote off AOL entirely when instead of sending me nice re-usable floppy disks they started sending non-reusable CDs.

Actually, although you seems to think it's only imaginary, AOHell is very real. You had better get right with the good Lord right now to avoid eternal damnation in AOHell.

Actually, although you seems to think it's only imaginary, AOHell is very real. You had better get right with the good Lord right now to avoid eternal damnation in AOHell.

...a certain online service implemented filters in its user registration process. People with last names like Petit or Snodgrass, and people who lived in cities with names like Scunthorpe or Middlesex, were prohibited from signing up for the service! The filters are implemented elsewhere too, one of AOL's remote employees couldn't enter his last name, Kuntz, into his online profile. Way to lose revenue.

And problems with AOL Instant Messenger. Lots of problems.

Yep -- an almost unending pattern of security problems...

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Destiny-land.
The happiest blog on earth.

And problems with AOL Instant Messenger. Lots of problems.

Yep -- an almost unending pattern of security problems...

---
Destiny-land.
The happiest blog on earth.

---
Destiny-land.
The happiest blog on earth.

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Destiny-land.
The happiest blog on earth.

For years to approximate geeky conversations between Spock and Kirk, I've been using this web site!

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Destiny-land.
The happiest blog on earth.

AIM is full of security holes. Another one was discovered this weekend. Here's some screenshots and another article.

There Here Pretty funny stuff...

If AOL worked some kind of encryption into their software, this wouldn't happen. My conclusion: AOL just doesn't care. They're a marketing company, not a technology company.

By the way, the Wired article mentions that AOL has been hacked 34 times. Here's screenshots of all 34 attacks.