<nettime> Microsoft Word and Excel track users, invade privacy

[ade <ade {AT} stub.org>]

>
> Subject: Microsoft Word documents that "phone" home
> Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 10:55:13 -0400
> 
> Hi,
> 
> 
> The Privacy Foundation has just released an advisory
> on an issue that we discovered earlier this month
> in Microsoft Word.  We found that it is possible to
> embedded "Web bugs" in Word documents.  The Web bugs
> allow the author of a document to track via the Internet
> where a document is being read.  The trick could be used
> to monitor leaks of confidential documents from a
> organization to outsiders as well as detecting
> copyright violations.  In addition, it is also
> possible to place Web bugs in individual paragraphs
> and detect when the text is copied from one Word
> document to another.
> 
> 
> The complete advisory is available at the Foundation's
> Web site:
> 
> 
> http://www.privacyfoundation.org/advisories/advWordBugs.html
> 
> 
> A demonstration "bugged" document for Word 97 and Word 2000
> has been set up at:
> 
> 
> http://www.privacycenter.du.edu/demos/bugged.doc
> 
> 
> We also found that Excel 2000 spreadsheet files and
> PowerPoint 2000 slideshows can be "bugged" in the same
> manner.
> 
> 
> Richard
> 



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