Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2004 13:37:48 +0100
From: pete devlin 
Newsgroups: uk.finance uk.telecom.broadband
Subject: Re: Can't get Haliax Online Banking website

In message , Fred Bloggs 
 writes
>Yes, but where does it say it goes?  Is the US White House address 
>www.whitehouse.org or www.whitehouse.gov, for instance? Being able to 
>read the URL doesn't tell you the answer.  There's nothing to stop 
>someone dodgy registering a URL similar to that of major banks etc.

This is true. In this case, however, it was obviously the correct site. 
If, as someone has already mentioned, the alternative is to type it in 
from memory, they would know that it was the correct address. The issue 
was that the link might direct to somewhere completely different. Not 
possible in a plain text format.
>
>> Even if it is posted in HTML, my newsreader tells me the
>> true destination.
>
>If it's not plain text but is alterable in any way then you're back to 
>trusting your browser or whatever, and there are various tricks to fool 
>them. I've forgotten the details, but it's something like:
>
>www.genuine_looking_address@www.dodgy_address.com.

Updates have stopped this happening IIRC. Though even with a holey 
browser that will allow that kind of URL, I would see exactly that URL 
at the bottom of my newsreader as I hovered over the link. I don't know 
if OE does this as I never use it. Only a buffoon would click such a 
munged URL.

>
>> Suspicion is good, paranoia is bad, mmmkay?
>
>Paranoia is also good sometimes.

Not when it prevails over common sense.
-- 
Pete Devlin
[{//////news03//////at\\\\\secondrow/////co\\\\\uk}]
Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world.
Kaiser Wilhelm