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The America Online Protocol Revealed
Gods Misfit writes "The America Online protocol(Connecting, Logging In, Joining Chats, etc..) has remained a mystery for most of its life. The only way one could log into their AOL account was via the AOL software. A few months ago, some people set out to break down the AOL protocol and open the door for alternative America Online software. This document is the result: The AOL Protocol.
A sign on example for Visual Basic programmers has been written and is available here." I suspect a fair number of people never try Linux or one of the BSDs because they're moderately happy with AOL as an ISP, and switching OSes would mean switching ISPs at the same time. A shame that AOL doesn't make this kind of information more easily available.
do you really want them installing Linux?
Imagine if it crashes, the support staff is confused enough already with windows!
...was keeping AOL users ON Windows? Now they can spread....
OtakuBooty.com: Smart, funny, sexy nerds.
Does this mean a stronger, better, more annoying version of AoHell will be released?
AOL on Linux.
Isn't that like having a red neck teach physic's at MIT?
guvf vf zl fvt
I think that would only count if AOL claimed to be secure. That would be one interesting legal argument.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Public recognition of Visual Basic as a programming language by the /. crowd! Millions of Microsoft programmers, no longer afraid to talk about work at cocktail parties!
Woot w00t w007.
I wonder if "intentionally obscured" is the same as "encrypted" in the eyes of the DCMA
You mean using Double Rot13 for an extra layer of security?
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
You mean using Double Rot13 for an extra layer of security?
You mean that doesn't work?
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
I know people who actually use the words "I like AOL" all together in one sentence.
Hey now, wait a minute!!! You're stepping on my toes, now. I use those words together in one sentence all the time:
"I would like to see AOL ripped into tiny pieces and thrown into the Seven Seas."
Here is the simplified version of the protocol:
void AOL()
{
while(connected)
{
send_advertisements();
monitor_browsing_habits();
monthly_fee++;
if(bandwith_to_spare)
send_internet_data();
}
return;
}
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
You're already doing that by posting here.
I can't wait for the first Linux-client. Why?
The only thing about AOL that's worth anything are the chatrooms. Unlike IRC, you can actually meet real, low-self-esteemed, fat chicks who'll put out for anyone willing to pretend to listen to them whine about how no one likes them.
I'd better stock up on condoms and twinkies, big dog is gettin' let out of the house...
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
(710)123-4567 is my phone line.
(456)123-4567 is an AOLnet dialin. Numbers mutilated to protect the guilty, of course. A few years and many many area code splits ago, we were all one code. More than a few lusers are confused by Windows' concept of "dialing location" and area code settings, and apparently more than a few of them are AOLers.
I get silent phone calls all the time, sometimes several in a row. Without fail, if I answer with a carrier, they connect.
Sometimes if I send "login:" they talk back. I've never bothered to get farther than that.
I've long dreamed of hacking up a barebones AOL emulator, just enough to push them a page that says "You dumbass, your area code settings are fux0red!" and then play some fart noises before dropping them.
Yeah, this is gonna rock. Not only do I get to fuck with their heads, but I get a free supply of AOL l:/p: pairs delivered to my desktop! Never know when those might come in handy.
It would be nice if there was an "AOL" client, perhaps based on linux, that was user friendly. It would never boot into windows, just into AOL. I can see a freestanding unit costing under $100 (and perhaps, eventually, given for free to subscibers) that allowed users to login and navigate AOL specifically. Such a unit would increase AOL marketshare.
So AOL could be Linux's killer app... but it wouldn't be from Linuz hackers.
- Because I'm a poor college student who's parents are still on AOL. Why pay for a second ISP when there's one available? Linux isn't a solution for them, but if I could dial up from the Linux Box in my room (Linux on the second cheap computer? I have the second cheap computer!), that'd make my life simpler.
- Who wants to reboot to a Win/9x partition, connect, DL kernel patch, reboot to linux partition... etc...
- Remember that AOL offers a nation wide network. So these days, that's nothing new. But think about moving every few years, and doing this six years ago. Want to hunt up a new ISP every time you move?
- If you've managed to keep an ISP (and e-mail address) for a few years, would you want to go through the hassle of chainging? There are alot of long time AOL users who cling to AOL just to keep their e-mail addresses. As they grow more comfortable with their computer they may even grow towards Linux. Being able to keep your ISP would make that decision easier.
It's not about converting windows users to Linux because now they can keep AOL (though I think you may see some of that). It's about letting power users simplify thier life. (Single ISP for both the kids running windows and parents running linux (or the other way around!))Another possible effect could be an "Offical AOL For Linux". Which would be easier and less stressful in the long run, continually fighting off the third party connections, or writing an offical port to get people away from third party connection software?
If I can't see it in Lynx I'm not interested.
Better be careful. AOL may consider any unauthorized use of their servers as computer trespass - even if you are an AOL subscriber. (They can say via license "you are only authorized to use our servers using OUR software.")
Thus, this information is aiding and abetting computer trespass. Slashdot and the authors may be liable retroactively under the new terrorism legislation (depending on the scope of the hacking provisions) with mandatory life sentences for giving aid to terrorists.
By advocating an open AOL client for linux, given AOL's licensing terms, you are trying to change intellectual property policy, thus are "trying to change government policy through computer trespass" under the PATRIOT act, USA act, or whatever they are calling it now.
While this scenario seems crazy, keep in mind that this is literally within the scope of (some versions of) the terrorism legislation.
Conclusion: "You've got jail!"
/dev/aol anyone?
You with the CueCat driver, and now this -- are you trying to be a shit magnet :-)
Hats off, though... and hats off to the person who did it in the first place...
/Brian
How about doing this for MSN so us folks who live in houses where people are stupid enough to fall for the 2 year hitch with MSN and getting $200?
.wri file?? am i the only one that finds it ironic that the method of circumventing a widely used proprietary protocol is written in a document using another closed protocol?
Just raise the taxes on crack.
Lets rewrite it so it can lessen the "idiot load".