TECHNOLOGY : D.A. Investigates Prodigy Over Privacy Allegations
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office confirmed Thursday that it has widened its investigation into Prodigy Services Co. to include complaints that the popular electronic information service has unauthorized access into subscribers’ computers and has violated their privacy.
Richard de la Sota, a deputy district attorney in the consumer protection division, said he is examining allegations that a particular software glitch on Prodigy allows it to copy stray bits and pieces of files in subscribers’ desktop computers without their knowledge and send the information to central Prodigy computers.
If the latest investigation uncovers sufficient evidence, De la Sota said, Prodigy could potentially be charged with violating the state Penal Code section that prohibits “unauthorized access to computers, computer systems and computer data.” However, he cautioned that his investigation, still in the preliminary stages, could also wind up exonerating Prodigy.
The consumer affairs division is already investigating complaints that Prodigy engaged in unfair business practices and deceptive advertising when it increased fees for its popular electronic mail service last year.
Prodigy President Theodore C. Papes said concerns about unlawful access to subscribers’ files and violation of users’ privacy are unfounded.
“Prodigy is committed to protecting the privacy of our nearly 1 million members,” Papes said. “The Prodigy service software was created with member privacy in mind. It cannot read, upload or in any other manner recognize the private contents of anyone’s personal computer. Not now. Not ever.”
Despite such assurances, which Prodigy officials have been making since the software problem was discovered more than six months ago, some subscribers remain wary and nervous. Some have simply stopped using the service, rather than risk a security breach. Others, unconvinced by official explanations, complained to De la Sota.
Prodigy, a joint venture of International Business Machines and Sears, Roebuck & Co., is one of the largest of the nation’s on-line services, a breed of electronic communication that allows PC owners to shop, bank, make airline reservations, play games and gather information about everything from restaurants to exotic vacation spas. These services hook subscribers’ computers to central information banks via telephone lines, and data is exchanged between the computers over those phone lines.
Linda Rohrbough, an Encino computer programmer and consultant, is a former Prodigy user who has been widely credited for sounding the alarm over the service’s potential invasion of her private computer files.
Rohrbough said the whole thing started late last year with her first and only use of the Prodigy service. Rohrbough said she loaded the Prodigy software into her computer and discovered that one of the files created by the software--a file designed to be transmitted between Prodigy computers and her own--had copied pieces of the source code for a software program she and her husband had been writing.
