The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998

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Computer underground Digest Wed Oct 22, 1997 Volume 9 : Issue 76 ISSN 1004-042X Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu) News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu) Archivist: Brendan Kehoe Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala Ian Dickinson Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest CONTENTS, #9.76 (Wed, Oct 22, 1997) File 1--AOL Class Action Suit Deadlines Extended File 2--Hoaxer (and a poor one) targets AOL File 3--AOL Says E-Mail Scare is a Hoax File 4--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997) CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 26 Oct 97 12:02 CST From: Jim Thomas (tk0jut1@mvs.cso.niu.edu) Subject: File 1--AOL Class Action Suit Deadlines Extended ((The following was posted by AOL to AOL subscribers last week. It was up for a very short time, so many may have missed it--jt)). --------------- PLEASE NOTE: The deadlines have been extended as follows:. December 1 for filing claims, and November 15 for filing objections and exclusion requests. There have been other modifications and you should read the Updated Settlement Notice The following message to AOL members is in regard to the settlement of a Class Action Suit in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. You may print this notice by clicking the Print button below. To save the notice to a file, click on Save. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT, CHANCERY DIVISION STEVEN F. SCHWAB, individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiff, No. 96 CH 13732 v. Hon. Stephen A. S chiller AMERICA ONLINE, INC., a Delaware corporation, Defendant. NOTICE OF PROPOSED SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION AND HEARING THEREON TO: ALL AMERICA ONLINE SUBSCRIBERS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES WHO WERE SUBSCRIBERS TO AMERICA ONLINE ON DECEMBER 1, 1996 OR WHO BECAME SUBSCRIBERS ON SAID DATE OR THEREAFTER IMPORTANT PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. THIS NOTICE RELATES TO THE PROPOSED SETTLEM ENT OF THIS CLASS ACTION, THE SETTLEMENT FAIRNESS HEARING AND YOUR RIGHTS WITH RESPECT THERETO, INCLUDING YOUR RIGHT TO SHARE IN THE BENEFITS OF THE SETTLEMEN T, TO EXCLUDE YOURSELF FROM THE CLASS OR TO OBJECT TO THE SETTLEMENT. Pursuant to an Order of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Chancery Division ("t he Court") dated May 1, 1997, YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED: I. DEFINITION OF THE CLASS AND PRIOR NOTICE By Orders dated January 30, 1997, and January 31, 1997, the Court certified thi s action (the "Action") as a class action on behalf of a nationwide class (the "Class") consisting of: All AOL subscribers throughout the United States who were subscribers to AOL on December 1, 1996 or who became subscribers on said date or thereafter. If you are or were a subscriber to America Online, Inc. ("AOL") at any time fro m December 1, 1996 to the present, you are a member of the Class. Your rights to participate in the settlement, object to the settlement, or exclude yourself from the Class are described in this Notice. Pursuant to prior Orders of the Court, the Class was provided notice dated Febr uary 25, 1997 of: the pendency of this Action; a description of the claims asse rted in the Action; the Assurance of Voluntary Compliance ("Assurance") reached between AOL and 45 state Attorneys General; and your right as a Class member t o remain in the Class or exclude yourself from the Class (the "Notice of Penden cy"). This Notice is not intended to be, and should not be construed as, an expression of any opinion by the Court with respect to the truth of the allegations in t he Action or the merits of the claims or defenses asserted. This Notice is sen t to advise you of the proposed settlement of this Action and of your rights wi th respect to this Action and the proposed settlement. II. THE ACTION The Action was commenced on December 18, 1996, when Plaintiff Steven F. Schwab (the "Class Representative") filed a class action complaint ("Complaint"). The Complaint alleges that AOL, which owns and operates the computer online servic e "America Online," breached its subscription agreements with its customers, an d violated state consumer protection and deceptive trade practice laws, by falsely advertising and agreeing to provide unlimited access to AOL'S online servic e for a flat rate. The Complaint alleges that in late 1996 AOL promised existing and prospective c ustomers "unlimited access" to America Online for a fixed rate of $19.95 a mont h (or less for one and two year prepaid subscriptions). It is alleged that AOL offered and advertised its "unlimited access" plan with knowledge that (1) sub scribers would spend considerably more time online, (2) AOL's number of subscri bers would increase dramatically, and (3) AOL did not have the capacity necessa ry to meet the increased demand for online time. As a result, it is alleged that Class members have experienced long delays in c onnecting to America Online, have been unable to connect to America Online, and , once connected, have been disconnected. The Complaint alleges that, as a res ult, AOL has failed to deliver the unlimited online access it promised. AOL denies that it has breached any agreement or otherwise violated any state o r federal law in connection with the foregoing and denies that any Class member is entitled to recover any damages. III. THE SETTLEMENT FAIRNESS HEARING The Class Representative and Class Counsel have reached a proposed settlement w ith AOL (the "Settlement"). The terms of the Settlement are set forth in detai l in the parties' Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU"), which has been filed wit h the Court and is available to the public to review during regular business ho urs at the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, Richard J. Daley Building, Room 802, 50 W. Washington, Chicago, Illinois, 60602. The Court has prelimina rily approved the Settlement as fair, reasonable and adequate and has directed that this Notice be provided to Class members. The Court has rescheduled the hearing before the Honorable Stephen A. Schiller from October 8, 1997 to November 20, 1997 at 2:00 p.m. at the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Richard J. Daley Center, Courtroom 2402, 50 W. Washingto n Street, Chicago, Illinois, to consider whether the Settlement should be final ly approved as fair, reasonable and adequate, to hear all objections to the Set tlement, and to consider Class Counsel's request for attorneys fees and reimbur sement of costs (the "Settlement Fairness Hearing"). Class members who do not request exclusion (as described in paragraph VI(B) bel ow) have the right to participate, either in person or through counsel retained by them, in the Settlement Fairness Hearing. Attendance at the Settlement Fai rness Hearing is not necessary; however, persons who wish to comment orally on the proposed Settlement must state in writing their intention to appear at the Settlement Fairness Hearing and the nature of their proposed comment, and must serve that document in the time and manner prescribed for written objections in paragraph VI(C) below. The Court may continue or adjourn the Settlement Fairness Hearing without further notice to the Class. IV. THE PROPOSED SETTLEMENT UNDER THE TERMS OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THIS ACTION, CLASS MEMBERS HAVE THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE BOTH UNDER THE ASSURANCE WITH THE ATTORNEYS GENERAL AND THE EXTE NDED AND ADDITIONAL BENEFITS OF THE SETTLEMENT. CLAIMS MUST BE MADE SEPARATELY FOR EACH (I.E., ONE CLAIM AS DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH A, AND ONE CLAIM AS DESCRI BED IN PARAGRAPH B). ALSO, UNDER THE SETTLEMENT, THE TIME PERIOD TO SUBMIT A R EQUEST FOR A REFUND OR CREDIT PURSUANT TO THE ASSURANCE WITH THE ATTORNEYS GENE RAL HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO December 1, 1997; HOWEVER, IF YOU EXCLUDE YOURSELF FRO M THE SETTLEMENT, YOU WILL ONLY HAVE UNTIL JUNE 4, 1997 TO SUBMIT SAID REQUEST. IF YOU HAVE ALREADY MADE A CLAIM FOR DECEMBER, 1996 OR JANUARY, 1997 (UNDER T HE ASSURANCE), YOU SHOULD NOT MAKE ANOTHER CLAIM FOR THOSE MONTHS - SEE PARAGRA PH A(3) BELOW. The Settlement provides as follows: A. The Assurance of Voluntary Compliance With The Attorneys General (ap plies to usage during the months of December 1996 and January 1997) On February 4, 1997, AOL entered into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance ("As surance") with the Attorneys General or other officials of 45 states. The Assu rance provides certain refunds, credits and other relief to AOL subscribers for the months of December, 1996 and/or January, 1997. In order to receive a refu nd or credit under the Assurance, qualified subscribers must make a complaint a bout access either to AOL or to the subscribers state Attorney General. AOL former and current members may claim a credit or refund under the Assurance with the Attorneys General under this Settlement. Under the terms of this Set tlement, the time period in which to submit a claim under the Assurance has bee n extended to December 1, 1997 for persons who do not request to be excluded fr om this Class. For the months of December 1996 and January 1997, you may choose to receive a r efund or credit, at your option, depending on the number of hours you actually used AOL's service during each of those months (see paragraph 1 below) or, alte rnatively, you may choose to receive a credit of one month's membership fee (se e paragraph 2 below). You are not eligible to receive a refund or credit for a ny billing period in which your fee was waived pursuant to a free trial offer o r other free offer by AOL. 1. First Option: Refund Or Credit Based On Your Actual Usage Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) below set forth the refund or credit to which you a re entitled, depending on your membership plan, if you choose to claim a refund or credit, at your option, based on your actual usage of AOL's service during the months of December, 1996 and January, 1997. a. Members Under The $19.95 Monthly or Prepaid Term Plans For December, 1996 and January, 1997: (i) you are entitled to a refund or cred it, at your option, of 100% of the monthly fee for each month in which you used AOL's service less than two (2) hours; (ii) you are entitled to a refund or cr edit, at your option, of 50% of the monthly fee for each month in which you use d the service for two (2) hours or more and less than eight (8) hours; (iii) yo u are entitled to a refund or credit of 25% of the monthly fee for each month i n which you used the service for eight (8) hours or more and less than fifteen (15) hours. In addition to any refund or credit that may be available to you under this par agraph (a), if you are a subscriber on a prepaid term plan, you can cancel your term account and receive a refund for the unused portion. The amount of this refund will be the total amount paid for the term less the charge for any month s of service, or portions thereof, already used. The refund will be calculated using the undiscounted monthly rate. b. Members Under The $9.95 Metered Access Plan For December, 1996 and January, 1997: (i) you are entitled to a refund or cred it, at your option, of 100% of the monthly fee for each month in which you used AOL's service less than one (1) hour; (ii) you are entitled to a refund or cre dit, at your option, of 50% of the monthly fee for each month in which you used the service for one (1) hour or more and less than three (3) hours. c. Members Under the $4.95 Metered Access Plan For December, 1996 and January, 1997: (i) you are entitled to a refund or cred it, at your option, of 100% of the monthly fee for each month in which you used AOL's service less than one (1) hour; (ii) you are entitled to a refund or cre dit, at your option, of 50% of the monthly fee for each month in which you used the service for one (1) hour or more and less than two (2) hours. 2. Second Option: One-Month Credit For December, 1996 and January, 1997: As an alternative to the refunds and/or credits available under paragraph 1 above, you may, if you remain a subscriber to AOL's service, instead choose to receive a one month credit equal to your o ne-month membership fee, without regard to the number of hours you actually use d AOL's service during December, 1996 and January, 1997. 3. If you have already made a claim for a refund or credit under the AVC for December, 1996 and/or January, 1997, you should not make a new cla im for those months under this Settlement. If you have not made such a claim y et, you are entitled to make the claim under this Settlement by sending a lette r or postcard by mail, as described in paragraph V(A) below, postmarked by Dece mber 1, 1997. B. The Extended and Additional Benefits of the Settlement (applies to u sage during either February, 1997 or March, 1997) 1. Class members under the $19.95 monthly or prepaid term plans a re entitled to an additional refund or credit, in connection with the month of February, 1997 or March, 1997, but not both, if in either month they used the s ervice for two (2) hours or more and less than fifteen (15) hours and represent in their written claim that they "subscribed to AOL's unlimited access plan an d did not receive the amount of access promised, represented or expected" durin g the month for which the claim is being made. a. If, during either February, 1997, or March, 1997, you used the AOL's service for two (2) hours or more and less than eight (8) hours you will recei ve a refund or credit of 50% of the monthly fee for one month. If you used the service for eight (8) hours or more and less than fifteen (15) hours during ei ther February or March, 1997, you will receive a refund or credit of 25% of the monthly fee for one month. b. If you have the $19.95 monthly or a prepaid term plan and you used A OL's service for fifteen (15) hours or more in February, 1997 and in March 1997 , and provided that you are and remain a subscriber of AOL throughout the period from February 4, 1997 through and including June 1, 1997 you are entitled to a one month credit of the monthly fee. 2. To receive the additional refund or credit described in paragr aphs (a) or (b) above for the month of February, 1997 or March, 1997, you must send a letter or postcard requesting the refund or credit, postmarked no later than December 1, 1997, as described in paragraph V(B) below. C. NOTE -- CLAIMS UNDER PARAGRAPH B ABOVE ARE SEPARATE FROM AND IN ADDITION TO ANY CLAIM YOU MAY MAKE UNDER PARAGRAPH A ABOVE. IN ORDER TO OBTAIN CREDITS OR REFUNDS UNDER BOTH PARAGRAPHS A AND B (IF ELIGIBLE), YOU MUST SUBMIT TWO CLAIM S -- ONE UNDER PARAGRAPH A AND A SECOND UNDER PARAGRAPH B. FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO MAKE EACH OF THESE CLAIMS, SEE SECTION V BELOW. D. Class members eligible for refunds or credits under paragraph B abov e who are no longer AOL subscribers will receive a refund. Class members who a re current AOL subscribers will receive a credit. You are not eligible to rece ive a refund or credit under either paragraph A or B for any billing period in which your fee was waived pursuant to a free trial offer or other free offer by AOL. E. Release of Claims Against AOL AS SET FORTH BELOW, THE RELEASE TO BE GIVEN TO AOL IN THE SETTLEMENT WILL RELE ASE CLAIMS UNDER FEDERAL AND STATE LAW WHICH YOU MAY HAVE AGAINST AOL. YOU SHO ULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER WHETHER YOU WISH TO REMAIN A MEMBER OF THE CLASS AND SH ARE IN THE SETTLEMENT, OR WHETHER YOU SHOULD EXCLUDE YOURSELF FROM THE CLASS U NDER SECTION VI(B) BELOW. Upon Court approval of the Settlement becoming final, the Class members and the ir respective agents, successors, heirs, or assigns shall be deemed to have, an d by operation of the Final Judgment and Order of Dismissal ("Final Judgment") in the Schwab Action, shall have fully, finally, and forever released, relinqui shed and discharged all Released Claims against the Released Parties. "Released Claims" means any and all claims, rights (including rights to reimbursement, r estitution, or damages), demands, actions, causes of actions, suits, matters, i ssues, debts, liens, liabilities, costs, expenses, damages or losses of any nat ure, whether under Federal laws or regulations or the laws, common law or regul ations of any State or subdivision, arising from a Class Member's difficulty in accessing or using, difficulty in attemtping to access or use, and/or inabilit y to access or use AOL's online service from December 1, 1996 through and inclu ding November 15, 1997, because of the AOL system's alleged inability to handle the demand for AOL's online service. Released Claims shall not include claims arising from an AOL subscriber allegedly not knowing the cost of the telephone connection that the subscriber was incurring in accessing and using the AOL ser vice or that there would be a cost for the telephone connection. "Released Part ies" means AOL and each of AOL's past or present officers, directors, agents, e mployees and their predecessors, successors, parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, attorneys, accountants, and advisors. Other actions, including other class actions, have been brought by other plaint iffs alleging claims on behalf of subscribers of AOL. To the extent that such o ther plaintiffs are members of the Class defined herein, and such persons do no t validly exclude themselves from the Class, the Settlement and the release to be given under the Settlement will preclude those persons from continuing to pu rsue those other actions against AOL and the Released Parties. F. Attorneys' Fees and Expenses More than 50 counsel in 40 lawsuits coordinated their efforts to prosecute an d resolve the Action on behalf of the Class. Under the Settlement, AOL has ag reed to pay attorneys fees to counsel for the Class and to reimburse the out-o f-pocket costs to counsel for the Class, each in the amount approved by the Co urt. Counsel for the Class have agreed to limit their request for attorneys f ees and costs to a total of three million dollars. The payment of fees and co sts by AOL is in addition to the refunds and credits to be paid to the Class a nd will not affect such payments. Counsel for the Class have prosecuted this Action on a contingent basis and have not received any payment of fees, or any reimbursement of their out-of-pocket costs. V. HOW TO MAKE YOUR CLAIMS If eligible, you may claim as described in both subsections A and B below, but you must submit separate claims and include the information requested. A. To make a claim under paragraph IV(A) above (for the months of Decemb er 1996 and January 1997): 1. Send a letter or postcard, postmarked on or before December 1, 1997, to: AOL Subscriber Claims I P.O. Box 511 Ogden, Utah 84402 2. State in your letter or postcard that you were a subscriber of AOL during the month(s) of December, 1996 and (or) January, 1997 and that you wish to receive a refund (or credit) for those (that) month(s); and provide (a) your name, address, telephone number and "master screenname". Your ma ster screenname is the name you chose when you first registered with AOL. (b) your signature. 3. For subscribers on the prepaid term accounts only: If you wish to cancel your prepaid term account, state in your letter or postcard "I subsc ribed to AOL's prepaid term plan and wish to cancel this account" and provide: (a) your name, address, telephone number and "master screenname". (b) your signature. B. To make a claim under paragraph IV(B) above (for the month of Februa ry, 1997 or March, 1997): 1. Send a letter or postcard, postmarked on or before December 1, 1997, to: AOL Subscriber Claims II P.O. Box 471 Ogden, Utah 84402 2. State or provide in your letter or postcard: (a) The month (February, 1997 or March, 1997) for which you wish to recei ve a refund or credit; (b) that you were a subscriber of AOL during that month and that you wish to receive the applicable refund (or credit) for that month; (c) That you "did not receive the access promised, represented or expecte d" during that month; (d) your name, address, telephone number and "master screenname". (e) your signature. C. NOTE -- CLAIMS UNDER PARAGRAPH IV(A) ABOVE ARE SEPARATE FROM AND IN ADDITION TO ANY CLAIM YOU MAY MAKE UNDER PARAGRAPH IV(B) ABOVE. IN ORDER TO OB TAIN CREDITS OR REFUNDS UNDER BOTH PARAGRAPHS (IF ELIGIBLE), YOU MUST SUBMIT TW O CLAIMS -- ONE AS DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH A ABOVE AND A SECOND AS DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH B ABOVE. D. If you still have questions concerning how to make a claim, you can call 1-800-471-6148 to listen to a pre-recorded message summarizing the procedu res. VI. THE RIGHTS OF CLASS MEMBERS IN CONNECTION WITH THE SETTLEMENT You have the following options: A. You may remain a member of the Class. 1. To remain a member of the Class, you do not have to take any a ction. As a member of the Class, you may share in the Settlement (if approved by the Court), and you will be barred from prosecuting your own claim. You wi ll automatically be considered a member of the Class, unless you formally reque st exclusion in accordance with the procedure set forth below. AS A CLASS MEMB ER, IN ORDER TO SHARE IN THE SETTLEMENT, YOU MUST FOLLOW THE CLAIMS PROCEDURE P REVIOUSLY DESCRIBED IN THIS NOTICE. 2. If you remain a member of the Class, you will be represented b y Class Counsel who have been appointed by the Court, unless you enter an appea rance through counsel of your own choice at your own expense. You are not requ ired to obtain your own counsel, but if you choose to do so, your counsel must file an appearance on your behalf within 45 days of the date of this Notice, an d mail copies of such appearance to the Lead Counsel for the Class identified b elow. 3. By remaining in the Class, you will not subject yourself to an y obligation to pay the costs of the Action. All costs and expenses, including attorneys fees, will be paid by AOL, as such amounts may be approved and order ed by the Court. B. You may exclude yourself from the Class. 1. If you wish to exclude yourself from the Class, you must mail a signed letter requesting exclusion, postmarked on or before November 15, 1997, to: Schwab v. AOL, 96 CH 13732 Clerk, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois Chancery Division Richard J. Daley Center Room 803 Chicago, Illinois 60602 2. Your request for exclusion must set forth your name, address a nd telephone number, the name and number of the Action (Schwab v. America Onlin e, Inc., No. 96-CH-013732), and must state that you "request exclusion from the America Online Subscriber Access Class". Your request must be postmarked on or before November 15, 1997. If your request for exclusion is timely postmarke d, you will be excluded from the Class. If excluded, you will not receive any benefits under the Settlement. IF YOU WISH TO BE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE IN TH E BENEFITS OF THE SETTLEMENT, DO NOT FILE A REQUEST FOR EXCLUSION. 3. If excluded, you will not be bound by the outcome of the Action and will retain any rights you may have including (without limitation) the ri ght to receive benefits under the Assurance of Voluntary Compliance. If you re quest exclusion from the Class, you will not be entitled to an extended period in which to file claims under the AVC proceeding, but must have filed your clai m under the AVC proceeding on or before June 4, 1997 (not December 1, 1997, the date that applies to persons who do not request exclusion from the class Settl ement described above). Your claim can be mailed to either your State's Attorn ey General or to AOL at the following address: AOL Subscriber Claims I P.O. Box 511 Ogden, Utah 84402 C. You may object to the Settlement 1. If you do not request exclusion from the Class, you have the right to objec t to any of the terms of the Settlement. If you object, you must do so in a wr iting postmarked no later than November 15, 1997 with copies to the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Chancery Division, Richard J. Daley Center, Roo m 802, Chicago, Illinois 60602, and to the Lead Counsel for the Class and couns el for AOL at the addresses set forth below. You cannot object to the Settlement if you exclude yourself from the Class. 2. If you approve of the Settlement, you do not need to take any action to indicate your approval. (You must, however, submit claims as describ ed above in order to share in the refunds and credits under the Settlement). VII. COUNSEL FOR THE PARTIES Lead Counsel for the Class and Co-Chairs of the Executive Committee for the Pla intiff Class are: Ben Barnow, Esq. Larry D. Drury, Esq. BARNOW and GOLDBERG, P.C. LARRY D. DRURY, LTD. 105 West Madison Street 105 West Madison Street Chicago, Illinois 60602 Chicago, Illinois 60602 Lawrence A. Sucharow, Esq. GOODKIND LABATON RUDOFF & SUCHAROW LLP 100 Park Avenue New York, New York 10017 Additional Members of the Executive Committee for the Plaintiff Class are: Nicholas E. Chimicles, Esq. CHIMICLES JACOBSEN & TIKELLIS 361 W. Lancaster Avenue Haverford, PA 19041 Mark C. Gardy, Esq. ABBEY, GARDY & SQUITIERI, LLP 212 East 39 Street New York, NY 10016 Bruce E. Gerstein, Esq. GARWIN, BRONZAFT, GERSTEIN & FISHER, LLP 1501 Broadway Suite 1416 New York, NY 10036 Joseph C. Kohn, Esq. KOHN, SWIFT & GRAF, P.C. Suite 2400 1101 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 Neil L. Selinger, Esq. LOWEY, DANNENBERG, BEMPORAD & SELINGER, P.C. One North Lexington Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 Robert A. Wallner, Esq. MILBERG WEISS BERSHAD HYNES & LERACH LLP One Penn Plaza New York, NY 10119-0165 Stuart D. Wechsler, Esq. WECHSLER HARWOOD HALEBIAN & FEFFER LLP 805 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022 Counsel for Defendant AOL is: Tyrone C. Fahner, Esq. MAYER BROWN & PLATT 190 South LaSalle Street Chicago, Illinois 60603 VIII. EXAMINATION OF PAPERS AND INQUIRIES This Notice only provides a summary of the claims and the Settlement. For a mo re detailed description of the terms of the Settlement and other matters involv ed in this Action, please refer to the MOU, the Complaint, pleadings and other papers filed in this Action, which may be inspected at the office of the Clerk, Circuit Court of Cook County, Chancery Division, Richard J. Daley Center, Room 802, Chicago, Illinois 60602, during business hours of each day. In addition, a copy of this Notice is located on the Internet at http://www.aol .com/legalnotice/. Dated: Chicago, Illinois BY ORDER OF THE CIRCUIT COURT May 22, 1997 COOK COUNTY, CHANCERY DIVISION HONORABLE STEPHEN A. SCHILLER ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 12:28:53 -0400 From: "John P. Mello Jr." <jpmello@ultranet.com Subject: File 2--Hoaxer (and a poor one) targets AOL The following email appeared in my inbox yesterday. According to AOL, it's a hoax. CU digest readers may be interested in being alerted about it. John Mello Woonsocket, RI +++++++++++++= From a former AOL employee: I'll try and cut through the crap, and try to get to the point of this letter. I used to work for America Online, and would like to remain anonymous for that reason. I was laid off in early September, but I know exactly why I was laid off, which I will now explain: Since last December, I had been one of the many people assigned to design AOL 4.0 for Windows (AOL 4.0 beta, codenamed Casablanca). In the beginning, I was very proud of this task, until I found out the true cost of it. Things were going fine until about mid-February, when me and 2 of my colleagues started to suspect a problem, an unexplainable 'Privacy Invasion', with the new version. One of them, who is a master programmer, copied the finished portion of the new version (Then 'Build 52'), and took it home, and we spent nearly 2 weeks of sleepless nights examining and debugging the program, flipping it inside-out, and here is what we found. Unlike all previous versions of America Online, version 4.0 puts something in your hard drive called a 'cookie'. (AOL members click here for a definition). However, the cookie we found on Version 4.0 was far more treacherous than the simple internet cookie. How would you like somebody looking at your entire hard drive, snooping through any (yes, any) piece of information on your hard drive. It could also read your password and log in information and store it deep in the program code. Well, all previous versions, whether you like it or not, have done this to a certain extent, but only with files you downloaded. As me and my colleagues discovered, with the new version, anytime you are signed on to AOL, any top aol executive, any aol worker, who has been sworn to secrecy regarding this feature, can go into your hard drive and retrieve any piece of information that they so desire. Billing, download records, e-mail, directories, personal documents, programs, financial information, scanned images, etc ... Better start keeping all those pictures on a floppy disk! This is a totally disgusting violation of our rights, and your right to know as well. Since this is undoubtably 'Top Secret' information that I am revealing, my life at AOL is pretty much over. After discovering this information, we started to inform a few other workers at America Online, so that we could get a large enough crew to stop this from happening to the millions of unfortunate and unsuspecting America Online members. This was in early August. One month later, all three of us were unemployed. We got together, and figured there was something we had to do to let the public know. Unemployed, with one of us going through a divorce (me) and another who is about to undergo treatment for Cancer, our combined financial situation is not currently enough to release any sort or article. We attepted to create a web page on three different servers containing in-depth information on AOL 4.0, but all three were taken down within 2 days. We were running very low on time (4.0 is released early this winter), so we figured our last hope to reveal this madness before it effects the people was starting something similar to a chain letter, this letter you are reading. Please do the following, to help us expose AOL for who they really are, and to help us and yourself recieve personal gratification for taking a stand for our freedom: 1. Forward this letter to as many people as you can (not just friends and family, as many as you can!) 2. Tell people who aren't on America Online in person, especially important people (Private Investigators, Government workers, City Council) 3. If the information about the new version isn't exposed by the time aol is released early this winter, for your own protection, DON'T DOWNLOAD AOL 4.0 UNDER ANY CONDITION !!! Thank you for reading and examining this information. Me and my colleagues hope that you will help us do the right thing in this situation. Enjoy America Online (just kidding!). Regards, A former AOL employee ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 26 Oct 1997 12:41:10 -0600 From: jthomas2@VENUS.SOCI.NIU.EDU(Jim Thomas) Subject: File 3--AOL Says E-Mail Scare is a Hoax Date: Tuesday, October 14, 1997 Source: By Jon Van, Tribune Staff Writer. Section: BUSINESS Parts: 7 Copyright Chicago Tribune AOL SAYS E-MAIL SCARE IS A HOAX America Online's rollout of new channels Monday was marred somewhat by an electronic mail hoax claiming that the nation's leading on-line service will use a new generation of its software to spy on customers. AOL denied the e-mail letter has any validity and said it has reported the document to the federal Department of Energy, which, in turn, has listed it on a Web site devoted to news of Internet viruses and hoaxes. The e-mail purports to be from a former AOL employee who said that he and other former employees discovered that AOL's new software, dubbed AOL 4.0, contains code that enables the company to go into the hard drive of a customer's computer and retrieve any information stored there. The company said this is false. "We don't scan or search or track any information on any member's hard drive," said Tricia Primrose, an AOL spokeswoman. "We have a real commitment to our subscribers and protecting their privacy." <snip> ((The article notes that the concern is over the "cookies" that gather information about and from users' Net travels. It adds that AOL's software won't be available to customers until later this year)) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 May 1997 22:51:01 CST From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu> Subject: File 4--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997) Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. 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