Clipboard Data Theft Now Optional With IE7

An anonymous reader writes "It's been known for a long time that Internet Explorer will happily allow any Web site to steal data that users have recently cut-and-pasted or copied into the Windows 'clipboard' data storage area. Well, now it looks like Microsoft has finally decided that this 'feature' was probably ill-advised, according to The Washington Post's Security Fix blog. IE7 throws up a warning asking whether users really want to let a site filch their clipboard data (Firefox, Opera and most other non-IE browsers forbid this behavior by default)."

Where's Clippy when you need him?

[Anonymous Coward]

Please PLEASE, let this warning be issued by Clippy. Such a stupid feature necessitates an equally stupid user interface.

"It looks like h4XX0R5.net would like to see what's on your clipboard."

/nostalgic for Clippy

I'm helping!

[PingSpike]

Internet Explorer:
Send personal data to unknown source? Click Ok to continue.

Re:not quite

[Intron]

I always cut-n-paste my login information when it has some minimum password length + funny character requirement + no echo. This makes it a lot more convenient to access my bank details from phish sites.

There are many clipboards but this one is mine

[wumpus188]

yy
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It seemed like a good idea at the time

[Somatic]

Public: What on earth would motivate you to implement such a thing?

MS: It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Public: In what way did it seem like a good idea?

MS: Well, maybe not a good idea, but an idea.

Public: So thinking was involved.

MS: Well, it was more like inspiration.

Public: ...

MS: They throw chairs at us. Help. Please.

Re:not quite

[silentounce]

Actually, I wrote an intranet site that uses this feature. For firefox, I had to use a flash hack to make it work though, so technically with a default Firefox install you can still mess with the clipboard anyway. I agree for normal internet sites there is no need though.You can also enable it through firefox advanced parameters in about:config, but I don't have the link to that information at the moment.

That's ok, give me your url and I'll stop by and drop it off.

Oh Big Whoop

[eno2001]

It's not like people are gonna be able to get anything valuable out of the cut and paste buffer. It's like what? 8k max? And how many people cut and paste valuable things like password, credit card numbers, user IDs, and the like anyway. The most any hacker will get would be part of someone's goofy school paper, a portion of an e-male, maybe at worst a URL (GASP!). This is so like a non-issue. As if...

[SLASHDOT CLIPBOARD IE7 CONTENT DUMP for User eno2001]:

eno2001 14m431337h4ck3r [phone]
Look at this later: http://www.iheartfurries.com/ [iheartfurries.com]

ub3rsm00vem4l3: So baby... my wife's out of town the whole weekend. Cum over and play?
SororityBabe6500000: Oh yeah! Let's party!

Books to read: How to Build a Nukyelar Bomb in Your Basement for Less than the cost of a Washing Machine, Trisexuals are People Too: A Study in Prejudice, How to Win an Election the Easy Way (Diebold Hacking)

Important investment info: Steve B said I should sell the Novell stock early next week. Remember to tell Feingold ASAP.

[END SLASHDOT IE7 CLIPBOARD CONTENT DUMP]

Re:Probably?

[jesser]

You're worried that if someone steals your laptop, they might be able to find your email address and spam you?

Re:It seemed like a good idea at the time

[Anonymous Coward]

WHOOSH

(and no that was not a chair)