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I remember about 10 years ago a college roommate and I ran `strings` on bonzi.exe and found some horrors. I think there are strings in there that specifically t

I remember about 10 years ago a college roommate and I ran `strings` on bonzi.exe and found some horrors. I think there are strings in there that specifically tell kids to go get their parent's credit cards and type in the numbers.

DonHopkins 5y ago
Sounds like a rehash of Soupy Sales' "Green Pieces of Paper" scandal. Soupy Sales’ ‘Green Pieces of Paper’ Scandal. Scandal erupted when children's TV host Soupy Sales asked his young viewers to send him 'little green pieces of paper.' https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/greenmail/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/greenmail/ >In January 1965 on his morning children’s show, the performer Soupy Sales suggested to his young viewers that they find the wallets of their sleeping fathers and take out “some of those funny green pieces of paper with all those nice pictures of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Alexander Hamilton, and send them along to your old pal, Soupy, care of WNEW, New York.” >“Hey kids, last night was New Year’s Eve, and your mother and dad were out having a great time. They are probably still sleeping and what I want you to do is tiptoe in their bedroom and go in your mom’s pocketbook and your dad’s pants, which are probably on the floor. You’ll see a lot of green pieces of paper with pictures of guys in beards. Put them in an envelope and send them to me at Soupy Sales, Channel 5, New York, New York. And you know what I’m going to send you? A post card from Puerto Rico!” >The most famous single gag comes on New Year’s Day 1965. Mr. Sales tells kids to go into their parents’ wallets and to send him “those little green pieces of paper.”It’s become a cult thing to say you sent $10, $20, he says, but if that had been true, he would have had enough money to buy the building. He received only a few dollars, and a week’s suspension. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/soupy-sales-new-years-day-joke/ https://ultimateclassicrock.com/soupy-sales-new-years-day-jo... >Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in 1993, the comedian claimed he received only $1 and some Monopoly money. But that same year, he told an audience at the Brokerage Comedy Club in Bellmore, N.Y., that he received $80,000. One woman in attendance shouted, "I want my dollar back!" To which Sales responded, "That's my ride home." He also recalled a 28-year-old woman who sent in a dollar with the message, "I've seen your show, and you should go to Puerto Rico." >You can watch the 1993 comment from the comedy club below. SOUPY SALES: Green Pieces of Paper https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=a-OGy3Kh7yM&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=BarryMitchell https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=a-OGy3Kh7yM&...
JadeNB 5y ago
> Edit: Wow this got 2 downvotes in its first 2 minutes. Do you all think I'm wrong or something? The internet seems to have some references to exactly what I'm talking about. I'm quite certain I'm not wrong. Do you need proof? Besides the general advice not to complain about downvotes, I think that you are "Do you need proof?" sounds aggrieved, even though asking for some more evidence than "I remember" and "The internet seems to have some references" is a perfectly reasonable response. At least for the current version (tested by downloading it just now), running `strings` on it produces nothing obviously nefarious at a glance (for example, no occurrences of the word "credit", or even "parent").
- cryptoz 5y ago
  I certainly didn't mean to be complaining. I'm more just confused and trying to improve. I thought little stories of using linux/unix tools to peek inside early internet spyware was a guaranteed point of interest on HN, especially when other users are sharing similar stories. I was concerned that maybe I was wrong and my memory is wrong, but it's difficult to prove. If I'm sharing false information it would be nice to be corrected. But nevermind. I know what I saw.
  - DonHopkins 5y ago
    I posted a link above to a paper that quoted some of the things that Bonzai Buddy said, and they were pretty creepy and pushy, but it didn't mention that he asked for credit card numbers or green pieces of paper, like Soupy Sales did. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27403600 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27403600 https://dis.ijs.si/Mezi/pedagosko/Abonzi.pdf https://dis.ijs.si/Mezi/pedagosko/Abonzi.pdf >This guy just keeps on telling you to order, order, order. “Don’t you want to send me to school, so I can learn 500 new jokes?” Fine, but at a cost of $19.95??? Voice recognition module: $15, 250 facts vol. 1 & 2: $10 each, entertainment center module to play multimedia content: $30, ... Bonzi is also supposed to tell stories. He does not. At least not unless you order another expansion pack. The entire package would cost about $150 to upgrade Bonzi totally. So much for Bonzi being freeware ...
  - throwaway1777 5y ago
ipaddr 5y ago
It was adware not creepware. I haven't used thr term adware in years. Those were the days. Now we install chrome instead and mobile apps to track location, call logs, contacts and personal photos.

DonHopkins 5y ago

Sounds like a rehash of Soupy Sales' "Green Pieces of Paper" scandal. Soupy Sales’ ‘Green Pieces of Paper’ Scandal. Scandal erupted when children's TV host Soupy Sales asked his young viewers to send him 'little green pieces of paper.' https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/greenmail/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/greenmail/ >In January 1965 on his morning children’s show, the performer Soupy Sales suggested to his young viewers that they find the wallets of their sleeping fathers and take out “some of those funny green pieces of paper with all those nice pictures of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Alexander Hamilton, and send them along to your old pal, Soupy, care of WNEW, New York.” >“Hey kids, last night was New Year’s Eve, and your mother and dad were out having a great time. They are probably still sleeping and what I want you to do is tiptoe in their bedroom and go in your mom’s pocketbook and your dad’s pants, which are probably on the floor. You’ll see a lot of green pieces of paper with pictures of guys in beards. Put them in an envelope and send them to me at Soupy Sales, Channel 5, New York, New York. And you know what I’m going to send you? A post card from Puerto Rico!” >The most famous single gag comes on New Year’s Day 1965. Mr. Sales tells kids to go into their parents’ wallets and to send him “those little green pieces of paper.”It’s become a cult thing to say you sent $10, $20, he says, but if that had been true, he would have had enough money to buy the building. He received only a few dollars, and a week’s suspension. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/soupy-sales-new-years-day-joke/ https://ultimateclassicrock.com/soupy-sales-new-years-day-jo... >Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in 1993, the comedian claimed he received only $1 and some Monopoly money. But that same year, he told an audience at the Brokerage Comedy Club in Bellmore, N.Y., that he received $80,000. One woman in attendance shouted, "I want my dollar back!" To which Sales responded, "That's my ride home." He also recalled a 28-year-old woman who sent in a dollar with the message, "I've seen your show, and you should go to Puerto Rico." >You can watch the 1993 comment from the comedy club below. SOUPY SALES: Green Pieces of Paper https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=a-OGy3Kh7yM&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=BarryMitchell https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=a-OGy3Kh7yM&...

JadeNB 5y ago

> Edit: Wow this got 2 downvotes in its first 2 minutes. Do you all think I'm wrong or something? The internet seems to have some references to exactly what I'm talking about. I'm quite certain I'm not wrong. Do you need proof? Besides the general advice not to complain about downvotes, I think that you are "Do you need proof?" sounds aggrieved, even though asking for some more evidence than "I remember" and "The internet seems to have some references" is a perfectly reasonable response. At least for the current version (tested by downloading it just now), running `strings` on it produces nothing obviously nefarious at a glance (for example, no occurrences of the word "credit", or even "parent").

cryptoz 5y ago
I certainly didn't mean to be complaining. I'm more just confused and trying to improve. I thought little stories of using linux/unix tools to peek inside early internet spyware was a guaranteed point of interest on HN, especially when other users are sharing similar stories. I was concerned that maybe I was wrong and my memory is wrong, but it's difficult to prove. If I'm sharing false information it would be nice to be corrected. But nevermind. I know what I saw.
- DonHopkins 5y ago
  I posted a link above to a paper that quoted some of the things that Bonzai Buddy said, and they were pretty creepy and pushy, but it didn't mention that he asked for credit card numbers or green pieces of paper, like Soupy Sales did. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27403600 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27403600 https://dis.ijs.si/Mezi/pedagosko/Abonzi.pdf https://dis.ijs.si/Mezi/pedagosko/Abonzi.pdf >This guy just keeps on telling you to order, order, order. “Don’t you want to send me to school, so I can learn 500 new jokes?” Fine, but at a cost of $19.95??? Voice recognition module: $15, 250 facts vol. 1 & 2: $10 each, entertainment center module to play multimedia content: $30, ... Bonzi is also supposed to tell stories. He does not. At least not unless you order another expansion pack. The entire package would cost about $150 to upgrade Bonzi totally. So much for Bonzi being freeware ...
- throwaway1777 5y ago

ipaddr 5y ago

It was adware not creepware. I haven't used thr term adware in years. Those were the days. Now we install chrome instead and mobile apps to track location, call logs, contacts and personal photos.