claudeo
join:2000-02-23
Redmond, WA
| Big boongoogle
The problem is that a public terminal is typically preconfigured and I have no way to change the settings. Now this is one more thing to worry about--I need to go and verify that Google search is not enabled before doing my email.
This is a real world problem, even if your are tech savvy. I was at a conference this week where the only way to access the internet was public PCs that were hard configured. Plugging in my laptop was not an option. Wireless was not an option. VPN was not an option. Carelessly, the IE Tools dialog box was not secured, so I could go and supposedly delete temporary internet files after doing my email, but we all know that doing that from the dialog box usually does not actually remove all temporary files.
Moral of the story: If you use a computer on which the Google toolbar is installed, be careful, be very careful. Why doesn't that thing get installed by default with the "spy" enabling features disabled, requiring some effort (with appropriate warnings) to enable them? Of course this is a minor annoyance compared to the keylogger and other crap that might or might not be installed on an internet cafe computer. But still, why does the Google answer have to be so arrogant? And why are some of the posts here compounding that arrogance by suggesting remedies that are beyond the grasp of the 99% of people for whom computers are just tools do get work done? Do you really expect any normal human being to understand every one of those features with ambiguous names in the Advanced options for IE? |
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martissimo
join:2001-12-01
Las Vegas, NV
clubs:
| You make a somewhat valid point and all, but without even going into all the advanced options and all isn't it easy enough to just tell people not to conduct anything that they hope will remain private on a public computer?
private and public imply two very different things  |
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tcp1
Premium
join:2000-04-17
Herndon, VA
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| reply to claudeo
Expecting any of your communications on a public computer to remain private is completely unreasonable. It's like talking over a CB vs a phone. There simply is no privacy.
On a private computer that is properly secured with a firewall and a password, this "problem" is not an issue.
So, there is no problem. |
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swilson191
@208.190.x.x
| reply to claudeo
all the pc's at my school are re-imaged with standard image at midnight daily. However, the school allows any user to install any program. i could go to the school at 7:00am and install this on every pc THEN come back and work my way around to all the pc's extracting all the info from 14hrs with a simple search. |
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alanhdsl
Premium
join:1999-10-09
Phoenix, AZ
 ·Qwest.net
| reply to tcp1
That's really the issue. I try to never conduct any sensitive stuff (banking, etc.) over a public computer. Even ignorning cache files, you could have keystroke loggers or anything else on the PC.
I saw one web cafe where they actually reimaged the hard drive after each user. Extreme, but probably very effective in eliminating spyware.
The same problem with revealing unsecured files exists on the web-search Google. Searching for typical password or logging files will return hits from unsecured web servers. |
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