Avoid Dell Laptops like the plague. Really.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

"A little more research, and I found that that board spliced in between the keyboard and the ethernet chip is little more than a Keyghost hardware keylogger.

The reasons Dell would put this in thier laptops can only be left up to your imagination. It would be very impractical to hand-anylze the logs, and very CPU-intensive to do so on a computer for every person that purchased a dell laptop. Why are these keyloggers here? I recently almost found out.

I called the police, as having a keylogger unknown to me in my laptop is a serious offense. They told me to call the Department of Homeland Security. At this point, I am in disbelief. Why would the DHS have a keylogger in my laptop? It was surreal."


http://c0x2.de/lol/lol.html

[Conker]

1. Do you think Dell desktops have them too?

[bowens43]

2. this a hoax........

http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/dellbug.asp

[johnfunk]

14. A hoax, but given that Michael Dell's such a Chimp buttboy...

... this hoax is almost believable

[onenote]

29. the best hoaxes always are "almost believable" by someone

But they're still hoaxes.

onenote

[Richardo]

3. What's a keylogger? Records keystrokes?

[Langis]

4. it's a hoax

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/06/16/conspiracy_theory_of.html

[ewagner]

5. Is it also

on Gateways?

[CottonBear]

6. What is a Keyghost hardware keylogger? Is it a bad thing? n/t

[bowens43]

7. a keylogger keeps track of every keypress you make but

this a hoax

[iconoclastic cat]

13. Gimmie an H. Gimmie an O. Gimmie an A.

[johnfunk]

18. Better yet: Gimmie an H. Gimmie an O. Whaddya got?

Ann Coulter



Sorry... I had to find an excuse to repost this Bartcop classic!

[iconoclastic cat]

22. Ugh.

Listen, are you trying to make me become a eunuch?

[geomon666]

24. Coulter's breasts are not that big.

Not even close. :silly:

[truebrit71]

33. OMG!!! That is friggin' HYSTERICAL!!!!

:rofl:

[philosophie_en_rose]

8. Please translate for the technologically impaired.

I know very little about computer hardware. Are you saying that Dell is logging your keystrokes? If so, is there a means to remove the keylogger?

Also, how does checking the keylogger work? Is that something a hacker or DHS can do remotely?

[bowens43]

10. it's a hoax

[philosophie_en_rose]

30. Thanks.

Unfortunately, it sounds like something that would happen.

[meti57b]

9. Glad to hear that's a hoax. If one brand laptop had it, they all would.

[notadmblnd]

11. It's been debunked.

GreekTragedy posted an article here earlier this morning. Another poster discredited
this theory and linked to Snopes.com. You should be able to do a search and find it if you are so inclined.

[Lost-in-FL]

12. Why are u so concerned?

I know they (HS, FBI, CIA) are not that smart. They even KNOW where is Osama and they are just letting him be. Lol :)

[peacetalksforall]

21. Something I've been wondering about...if the FBI and CIA are so inept

technologically - building things that don't work with each other, etc, etc wasting taxpayer money ... and if Gateway or Dell or IBM did feed them our keystrokes... could if be of use to them if they can't process it - or would it go directly to private outsourced corporations with Poindexter hacks who work for the cabal?

[sybylla]

15. I'd say avoid them because Mr. Dell is a conservative ass

That alone would be plenty of reason for me if his company hadn't already crapped all over any attempt at customer service with me.

[ecstatic]

16. avoid GATEWAY like the plague

I have a totally unusable gateway laptop because of a defect in their product!

[Vinca]

34. I lost an entire novel on a Gateway. Grrrrrrrrr.

[VOX]

17. Avoid Dell products altogether. Michael Dell is a major Chimp booster.

http://www.corporateswine.net/dell.html
Michael Dell of Dell Computers

Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Computers, one of the largest personal computers distributors in the country, is a bigtime supporter of George Bush and the US military. Dell has shown his loyalty to Bush by steering his company in a direction to help the military with their warfighting endeavors. Bush, in turn, has handed out dozens of contracts to his Austin neighbor. Much of Dell's 35 Billion dollar business is supported by contracts from the DoD and America's largest defense contractors.
<snip>

[dArKeR]

25. We should be associating aWol supporters with "murderers" "butchers"

"killing fields"... not just as GOP supporters but supporters of "genocide" and "corruption"

Below is the picture which should be held in front of all corporate offices supporting the GOP! Warning Graphic:

[beam me up scottie]

28. Thank you.

I've been trying to tell my family that forever.
Now I've got the proof.

[Atman]

19. I thought Dell WAS the plague!

nt

[onehandle]

20. Dell Schmell. Hoax Schmoax. Buy a Mac!!!

Read my sig.....

[LiberalEsto]

23. That's nasty

While you're at it, don't ever buy a Dell printer.

You can only buy ink refills from them online. They are not available anywhere else, so you're stuck.

[ailsagirl]

26. Avoid Dell anyway-- they're HUGE supporters of chimpo

[TriMetFan]

27. Buy Apple Computers.

[AndyTiedye]

31. The Manufacturer Wouldn't Kludge Something In Like That

To hack something like that into every Dell laptop would be expensive,
failure-prone, and would be discovered when somebody tried to repair it.

It is certainly possible that somebody found such a thing on their
laptop in this day of "sneak-and-peek" searches and "Homeland Security",
but it would not be done to an entire production run like that (they
would build it into the motherboard instead).

Getting a software key logger in a virus is much more of a risk.
Criminals use them for identity theft. The government is reported
to have one, called "magic lantern", that the AV companies have agreed
to non-detect.

The key logger will need to communicate over the network, unless
whoever installed it can break in again to retrieve it. A good
hardware firewall can prevent a keylogger from communicating with
its master.

[Ian David]

32. Maybe now that we know it's a hoax, they'll start doing it for real?

Nobody will believe it now!

Maybe that was their plan all along:
1) Start Hoax
2) Hoax gets discredited
3) Do it for real
4) Nobody will believe it (except the same people who think forwarding chain emails will send a sick child to Disney World).

Muhahahahaha!