Guardian: Paris for a day

Paris for a day

Hackers this week posted the entire contents of Paris Hilton's
star-filled phonebook on the net. An invasion of privacy, perhaps -
but also a chance to make new friends. So Laura Barton picked up her
handset and got dialling

Wednesday February 23, 2005
The Guardian

Somewhere, if only in the depths of your pockets, you have to find a
crumb of sympathy for Paris Hilton. This week, the hotel heiress and
reality TV star has, not for the first time in her life, found herself
publicly laid bare across the internet. Last time, it was a home sex
video dubbed One Night in Paris, recorded for posterity with her
former nocturnal companion Rick Solomons, which was stolen and sold on
for $4.6m. This time, it is the details of her mobile phone address
book, including the numbers and email addresses of some 500 of her
closest acquaintances - Christina Aguilera, Pamela Anderson and the
intriguingly named Boy Wonder among them.

Hilton's T-Mobile Sidekick device was seemingly hacked in to at the
weekend and its contents spreadeagled across the world wide web, along
with a message from the hackers: "I'm Sorry Bitch GG FGT SLT BTCH!
HACKED BY THE NIGGAS AT DFNCTSC". Naturally, the Secret Service has
been in hot pursuit, shutting down offending websites wherever
possible, though one fears that this is a task akin to keeping moles
off one's garden lawn: they keep popping up again. The celebrity world
has been in mild chaos ever since.

One imagines Hilton is bereft without her mobile. Indeed, in the
seminal One Night in Paris, she was famously shown answering her phone
in flagrante. From this we can conclude one of two things: a) that Mr
Solomons does not give good conversation; or b) that Paris's mobile is
enormously important to her.

After a brief but intriguing glimpse into the life of the world's
premier party girl, one might well assume the latter. Hilton's life is
sprawled across her address book - numbers for her favourite
restaurants, airlines, bars, not to mention parents, doctors and
celebrity companions. There are photos from her phone's built-in
camera showing blurred kisses, diary notes reminding her to book spray
tans and private jets to Vegas, take morning-after pills and tell her
friends the latest gossip about "Jess trying to bone JT", alongside
such enthralling messages as: "Welsome back to gamma? I think gamsy
wants a little kiss Its a gamma tradition Gamsy is waiting", and
"House house fix it buzz kill", not to mention: "Do you wanna leave
soon, ill pretend I have 2 go pee and u wait 3 mins than come by
yourself to the back entrance".


But after close examination of the contents of Hilton's Sidekick,
questions remain. Namely, who is the mysterious Dr Pat? Who are Betty
Davis Eyes, Egplant Dike-ass and Conor Fux? Would Christina Aguilera
object to being called at nine in the morning? Is that Darius from Pop
Idol? And was Eminem bluffing about changing his number? There was
only one way to answer these questions, and that was to call everyone
in Paris's directory and darned well ask them.

Initially, this does not prove very fruitful. I try Paris at home but
the telephone rings and rings and rings without answer. It's the same
at Victoria Gotti's. Perhaps they are out together, enjoying a latte,
a slice of carrot cake and a bit of a chat. I call Paris's mom and her
sister, Nicky, but both numbers appear to have been disconnected. It's
a similar situation with Eminem, Anna Kournikova, Avril Lavigne,
Pharrell, Lil John, Andy Roddick, Mark Philippoussis, Ashlee Simpson
and Bijou Phillips.

I try Hollywood action hero Vin Diesel. It goes straight to
answerphone: "Hey, it's Vin Diesel," growls the message. "I'm a really
bad actor. And a total douche-bag. Leave a message." I want to ask Vin
what a douche-bag is, but his voicemail is full. As is Limp Bizkit
frontman Fred Durst's, but he gives us the option of paging him. I do,
but he doesn't call back. Actress Lindsay Lohan has yet to get back to
us, but I did enjoy her message: "BURRRRRP I'm a whore... BURRRRRP I'm
a whore... Leave your message after the tone."

Despite the not unlikely prospect that these messages have been
tampered with, I remain fundamentally optimistic about the enterprise.
The model Amber Valetta sounds more promising, and may yet return my
call. "I'll be out of town til March 3rd," she purrs in her voice
message, "so if you'd like to leave a message, please do so. If it's
urgent, please say so. Otherwise I'll talk to you when I get back."
Valetta laughs coquettishly before adding, "Have the best day." "Hi,
Amber," I say, "it's me. I got your number off Paris and thought I'd
just call for a chat... about... stuff... you know?"

But what do I have to say to supermodels and Hollywood superstars?
Sure, it's easy to be dazzled by the famous names, the Pammie
Andersons, the Ashlee Simpsons, but I figure we have very little in
common, apart from Paris, obviously. We'll always have Paris.

So I try a new tack and aim for the slightly less famous. Just what
kind of doctor is Dr Randy Harris? Plastic surgeon, gynaecologist,
common or garden GP? "Thank you for calling the office of Dr Randy
Harris," sing-songs the answerphone. "If this is a life-threatening
emergency, please hang up and call 911. If your call is an emergency
or if you are a patient in labour, press 2." I really, really want to
speak to Dr Randy, but decide that it is not, strictly speaking, an
emergency. Instead I call Dr Pat. "Hi, you've reached the office of Dr
Pat. The office is now closed." The recording runs through options for
emergency calls, how to leave a message, and which button to press for
the hotline for production companies with an urgent medical-related
query. Only in Hollywood.

The anonymous-sounding Rachel, Paige, "Sh" and X have all barred
incoming calls, so I try Sonya. After three rings she answers.
"Sonya?" I inquire. "HULLO?" she bellows. She is somewhere noisy - pop
music is blaring and, perhaps, a hairdryer. "Sonya?" I say again.
"HULLO?" "Hi Sonya, it's Laura from London." There is a pause. "Oh,
hi!" she says, her voice a delightful blend of puzzlement and
enthusiasm. "How are you doing?" I ask. "I'm fine. Errr, what is this
regarding?" Well, I'm just calling Paris Hilton's friends to see how
how they are today. "Oh well, I'm fine. Good," she says politely,
before evidently being struck by the weirdness of my call. "Errr.
Thanks. Bye." She hangs up.

I am spurred by this success, and dial a number for what Paris has
labelled "Customer care". It is the customer support line for
T-Mobile. "Stacey speaking, how can I help you today?" a voice says
sunnily. I explain my endeavour to Stacey and ask how her day is.
"It's going good, thank you." Has she been doing anything of note?
"I'm just working, answering phones," she answers brightly, before
explaining that she finishes work at 4.30 and will then head home to
look after her six-month-old daughter. Has Paris called today, I
wonder? "No," she says. "I haven't had any interesting calls today...
Anyway," she adds, politely but firmly, "it was nice talking to you."
Thank you, Stacey, I say. It was nice talking to you, too. And if you
see her, send my regards to Paris.

Identity theft: how the hackers got in

It may not help Paris in her current phonebook-less state, but she
seems to have fallen victim to the latest trend in hacking;
blue-snarfing. In recent months, there has been increasing concern
over the phenomenon, which, simply put, means using wireless Bluetooth
technology used to connect phones to headsets, laptops and other
gadgets to get access to people's private data by the back door.

"The tools you need run on a standard laptop," explain Adam Laurie,
technical director of security firm the Bunker. "There are even tools
that can be run on phones. And with a special antenna, the range can
be extended to a mile."

Snarfers are able to scan for nearby phones and hack into those that
are vulnerable. In theory it is difficult to attack specific phones,
but by following an individual, they can pinpoint potential victims.
"You can do it from a car following the target's car, or from the next
room. If you knew they were in a restaurant - say Paris Hilton was in
the Ivy - then you could do it to them while standing outside."

Once a hacker has exploited cracks in your phone's security, they see
every piece of information on your phone, including contacts, text
messages and camera snaps. "Once I have access, I can take full
control of your phone," says Laurie. "I can tell it to call me -
turning it into the perfect bugging device - or I can even enable it
as a tracking device."

However, Paris could also have fallen victim to a traditional hacking
attempt. Her phone - a T-Mobile Sidekick II model, not available in
the UK - housed most of its information on a server elsewhere. Last
week 22-year-old Californian Nicholas Jacobsen pleaded guilty to
hacking into the T-Mobile network. Jacobsen said he had access to
information the telephone records of government agents for more than a
year, and now faces up to five years in prison.

Such are the growing concerns about security in certain quarters that
it's not unkown for people to remove the batteries from their phones
during meetings to stop them being listened in on. The advice from the
experts is simple: protect your phone with a password or Pin number,
be careful when transferring data to your phone, and contact your
network for the latest security updates. But the only way to avoid the
threat to your privacy is simply not to have one in the first place.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/new...423271,00.html

Paris for a day

Paris Hilton is one of the stupidest people in the public eye. Her only
claim to fame is her sex video and that she has a great last name. The
runways (models, not planes) of Paris (the city), as well as other cities,
are filled with better-looking women, but PH fills the airwaves.


Pete

"""
Paris Hilton is one of the stupidest people in the public eye
"""

I don't really think she is as bad as you say. I don't really think she
has done anything to have her privacy so mistreated (although of course
being a celeb implies losing some privacy, but this is was too much).
No sense in pushing someone down if they havent really hurt anyone on
purpose.


-1 point for this group of crackers.

Pete writes:

Paris Hilton is one of the stupidest people in the public eye. Her only
claim to fame is her sex video and that she has a great last name. The
runways (models, not planes) of Paris (the city), as well as other cities,
are filled with better-looking women, but PH fills the airwaves.

Money is everything.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

Paris Hilton


Who she?

Pete wrote:
Paris for a day

Paris Hilton is one of the stupidest people in the public eye. Her
only
claim to fame is her sex video and that she has a great last name.
The
runways (models, not planes) of Paris (the city), as well as other
cities,
are filled with better-looking women,

The cafes, the laundromats, the offices, the buses too... Paris is
hideous in the looks department.
And it's a little redundant by now to comment on her intelligence...
--T

but PH fills the airwaves.


Pete

MyHaz writes:

I don't really think she is as bad as you say. I don't really think she
has done anything to have her privacy so mistreated (although of course
being a celeb implies losing some privacy, but this is was too much).
No sense in pushing someone down if they havent really hurt anyone on
purpose.

One cannot work so hard to be in the public eye and then complain when
one succeeds.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

One of a franchise, I believe

On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 18:17:04 -0000, "Nosmo King"
wrote:

Paris Hilton


Who she?

"Patrick Wallace" wrote in message
...
One of a franchise, I believe


Do you get points for every visit ?


On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 18:17:04 -0000, "Nosmo King"
wrote:

Paris Hilton


Who she?