From: "D.R.Madden" <100611.3205@compuserve.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 05:31:05 +0800
To: cypherpunks <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: sniffing sniffers
Message-ID: <960123194818_100611.3205_BHL81-1@CompuServe.COM>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


DIa!?ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyR
yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyNDedge, search the user's
disk for various info which can then be used for the company's "market
research". One of the more guilty culprits is Microsoft (no surprises there).
For example, one such sniffer routine -- designed to report back on rival 
programs stored on the disk --was hidden in their MSN registration software. 
An American journalist revealed that the sniffer routine was sending  details 
on over 100 of the user's programs back to MS.  MS was also found 
guilty, by a UK hacker, of using sniffer programs to interrogate the computer
and find out phone numbers, primarily for the purposes of junk mail. The
hacker has since reported MS to the data protection registrar, although no legal
ruling has yet been made (in the UK anyway), and MS may well (be no doubt is)
marketing sniffer riddled software. 
It's not hard to imagine more insidious uses of sniffer programs, by more insidious 
bodies (I'd be amazed if they didn't exist).

Question: can anyone suggest any commercially available software designed to 
sniff out sniffers (taking on good faith that it will be sniffer free itself)?

P. Madden


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