PM messages.. are they *really* private?

[TN_Vixen]

something came up today about this issue that makes me believe they aren't as private as we'd like to think. How many of you have sent PMs to people that you'd like to remain private? I would assume most of us have sent messages that contained information we'd prefer to keep between the parties involved.... but today I realized that's not necessarily the case. This is just a notice to all Literoticans to keep guarded while posting PM messages.

 

[lavender]

 

[Elizabeth]

Yeah, I found out just how NOT private pm's can be. Didn't make that mistake again. Sorry, it still pisses me off.

 

[TN_Vixen]

Elizabeth

if you don't mind.. how did you find that out?

 

[roxie]

Great reminder to all on the board!

As much as we all hope that any pms we send out will remain private, we all know this does not always happen. I know there are people here who can be trusted with this issue, no need to worry about them passing along pms, but some other people have no etiquette (sp?)when it comes to these things and will post them or send them to anyone.

 

[Elizabeth]

Re: Elizabeth

if you don't mind.. how did you find that out?

I think I'd rather email you that info, if it's ok.

 

[TN_Vixen]

understood Elizabeth.. ;-)

And Roxie.. I'm not talking about people passing along PMs.. I'm talking about people we don't even know accessing our accounts and reading posts we've made to people privately without our knowledge.

 

[roxie]

My apologies, a misunderstanding.





I change my p/w often because of this, old habits are hard to break

 

[Debbie]

I'm not talking about people passing along PMs.. I'm talking about people we don't even know accessing our accounts and reading posts we've made to people privately without our knowledge.

Not that I have anything to hide? But the thought of someone being able to and doing so? Just

How can you stop it from happening?

 

[Ishmael]

Paranoia

Paranoia strikes deep,
into your life it will creep.
It starts when you're always afraid,
step out of line and the man will take you away.

(Courtesy of Buffalo Springfield)

A little more serious here. I've had PM's and e-mails corrupted the made public by the recipeint. Feces occurs.

"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you."

Ishmael

 

[TN_Vixen]

Ishmael

I'm not paranoid. Never really gave this a second thought until today. Maybe you should ask freescorfr what his particular problem is?

 

[Guest]

Be careful out there!

If you have things which are intensely personal, don't use PM. Lit isn't designed to be a secure repository for personal thoughts. It is extremely difficult to do anything on the internet anonymously.

For the most part the trust and respect which Lit depends on is honoured. You must be prepared however for someone to betray that trust or respect at some point. If you want to keep things really private, don't post them here.

 

[Pechorin]

Above post was me

Bl**dy computers!

 

[tulip2lipservice]

When you mean post you mean pm post?

I assume that is what you mean. For a while I have been forewarn about pm chat in lit and such. I assume the security of privacy is not that well. Like anywhere online one has to remember that anything that we type can come back to haunt us.

Some things are best kept in personal conversation in reality.

Peace,
Tulip

 

[Ishmael]

Re: Ishmael

I'm not paranoid. Never really gave this a second thought until today. Maybe you should ask freescorfr what his particular problem is?

Geez, I would Vixen, but that would be disengenuous. I don't really care all that much.

Ishmael

 

[on_the_verge]

Every PM, IM and telephone call has remained "private" and I have respected every person's wishes and privacy. I believe in the gift of an exchange and the trust that follows suit. I can claim that with a score or so of people I have exchanged and shared with o Lit. I believe there is something about Karma and the fact that I want to be invited to the next party over having to be the neighborhood asshole. Not all cases are as fortunate or respectful, but I am glad I can stand by my honesty and the feeling that I would *expect* the same from the other.

*References avaible upon request and release of parties involved.

 

[Cheyenne]

??? I'm not that skilled in computers, but if our PMs can be read, does that mean that strangers are logging in as us under our nicknames? Wouldn' t that also give them the ability to post as us?

Have other people had problems with their PMs being read?

 

[on_the_verge]

??? I'm not that skilled in computers, but if our PMs can be read, does that mean that strangers are logging in as us under our nicknames? Wouldn' t that also give them the ability to post as us?

Have other people had problems with their PMs being read?

So that was not you posting about subvert personals! Cheyenne, I am sorry I doubted you!

There are ways for hackers to get into the system, but I won't get into that and I am sure Lit is not a target, hackers like recognition for the *big fish* anyway…then again, things work in strange ways. If you change your password and use cases and numbers your security level *can* be increased. Frequent changes in passwords and using unorthadox or uncommon phrases helps. You would be surprised how many people have their password as "password."

 

[TN_Vixen]

??? I'm not that skilled in computers, but if our PMs can be read, does that mean that strangers are logging in as us under our nicknames? Wouldn' t that also give them the ability to post as us?

Have other people had problems with their PMs being read?

Chey, I don't know. I don't know if other people have had similar problems, I only know of the one issue and I think it's a pretty damn big one. I've been talking with Laurel about it, and like you... I'm not skilled in computer techhie stuff, so I have no idea how this incident happened. I just know it did and there's no reasoning behind it at all.

 

[riff]

I want to hear what the management has to say about all of this. I am sorry. This is too serious to be ignored. Laurel? Manu? God?

I can tell you this. My PM's from here until I get some kind of information are chit-chat. It's a shame it has to be that way. But until I have an assurance, I am using my e-mail account to exhange any information of a particularly intimate or concrete biographical nature.

As I learned tonight while I was downtown- there are animals everywhere.

 

[Cheyenne]

Patient1 posted a couple months ago about how he went to check his PMs and someone else's came up on his screen. Could it have been a system glitsch and not someone doing it on purpose?

 

[riff]

Who knows, Cheyenne? I am playing it safe.

 

[freakygirl]

What exactly happened? No names need to be mentioned.. no exact information needs to be given. But what exactly are we supposed to be watching for?

 

[Weird Harold]

something came up today about this issue that makes me believe they aren't as private as we'd like to think.

PM's are as "private" as e-mails are, but neither are "secure" means of communications -- any system administrator can read any and all messages that passes through their system.

There have ben some glitches here at Lit that inadvertently log people into someone else's PM box -- similar to the infamous PinkLady glitch earlier this week.

I'm not impressed with the security of usernames or private messages in this vB software. But then If I want secure communications, I'll use password protected ZIP files. I don't do or say anything here that I really care about others seeing -- even my PM's are mostly innocuous. The only thing that using PMs does for me is to keep everyone from reading a post.

 

[Manu]

My e-ears were burning.

Hi everyone!

Laurel forwarded me an email from riff, and, while this is something that I am working on in private, I thought I would share the following fun info:

1. There are 100's of PM's sent on the board every day and I can count on my hands the number of problems that have ever been reported with PM security. And believe me, when there are problems, we hear about it, and how!

2. Pinklady aside, the extremely rare problem that you might have heard about where a person ends up in another person's account is not a problem with these scripts, it is a problem with improperly set up proxy servers that people are visiting the site from. That means the route that a few users come in through was using a proxy that was caching some pages that they shouldn't have been. For this to have worked, the two users had to be coming in through the same messed up proxy at the same time (or very close). These proxies are external of Literotica. These issues have been addressed in more recent versions of the script, and they will continue to be addresses as they are found.

These rare type of problems effect everyone from Hotmail to Yahoo to Ebay and back again. Some of them, such as poorly configured software running between our servers and the servers of users in some far away land, are very hard to anticipate in advance, and must be addressed as they are discovered.

3. It is a good idea to expect that nothing on the web is 100% secure. Email is just about the least secure form of communication you are going to find, next to shouting. Even if major sites like Hotmail, and programs like Outlook, didn't have such constant security problems, the actual email itself, once it leaves your digital "hands" is out there for anyone and everyone to see, if they want to make the effort to find it. The only safe way to talk to someone is in person, but even that is suspect these days with all of the "turn in your neighbor" stuff that's being pushed.

4. The specific issue that riff is talking about, which I am looking into, is very strange. I'm not sure I even totally understand what happened. The fact that the PM message he is having a problem with seems to have come from his account and ended up in his account is very odd. It seems coincidental that if someone was going to mess with your PM's, they would send you your own PM. If this is a security problem, which I'm still not sure it is, then it's possible that someone has gotten a hold of his specific password, I suppose. If that's the case, then it's a simple matter of making sure you use a secure password and change it every so often just for kicks. Again, the whole story here is still not fully clear to me and I'm working on it. Hopefully riff will email with more info and a copy of the PM(s) in question.

5. We generally do not discuss security issues in public, because it is not a smart idea. If we ever found out that the database got compromised, or something else serious, then it would make sense to let everyone know. If someone finds a way to hack an account and we can patch it right away, then we are better off not mentioning it at all, lest we encourage people to try to hack the site. This is standard practice with security operations in general. The less that the average person knows about the security system and how it works, the better the system is.

Sorry for boring you with a long post! I just wanted everyone to know that we are always here, behind the scenes, working away. Just think of us as the secret shadow government of Literotica, always watching, always waiting. What's that warm breath on the back of your neck? Turn around, QUICK! No one's there. Are those footsteps I hear? Naw, must have been the wind...