Author: Ricardo Gibert
Date: 12:59:15 03/24/00
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On March 24, 2000 at 15:38:19, Tom Kerrigan wrote: >On March 24, 2000 at 14:51:21, Ricardo Gibert wrote: > >>On March 24, 2000 at 11:12:50, Tom Kerrigan wrote: >> >>>On March 24, 2000 at 06:15:29, Tina Long wrote: >>> >>>>Thanks again for alerting me to this Spyware mob! "....we assure you that this >>>>information is never used...." >>>> >>>>Bloody Wow! >>> >>>Hmmm. >>> >>>It appears that you did not read the entire article, which basically states that >>>this "spyware" does not send any useful information anywhere. >>> >>>-Tom >> >>This "spyware", by Aureals own admission, creates the ability to grab personal >>information. Your "does not send any useful information anywhere" is based on >>Aureals assurance that this capability is not being abused. Okay so you want to >>believe them. That's fine. However, Aureal has created a security hole in >>peoples systems and Optout is a means of pluging that hole up. It is a quite >>reasonable decision to do so. That may be overly-cautious. On the other hand, >>those that are more trusting may be overly gullible. I prefer to err on the side >>of being overly-cautious. >> >>There have been more than one articles on the internet referring to peoples >>reaction to Aureal as "hysteria", but this ignores the fact that the security >>hole created by their software is quite real. I don't understand why anyone >>would want stand by and let a security hole persist on their system when there >>is a means of fixing it. > >What security hole are you talking about? > >It's not like somebody can attack your system because you have this stuff on it. >That's what security hole typically means. > >And according to The Register's article, the software does not "phone home" with >your information. > >So you may not like the software, but calling it a security hole is an >overreaction in my opionion. > >-Tom You're intitled to your opinion, but Aureate software collects demograghic information and user behavior data (in regards to the banner ad) and sends this information back over the internet. It also associates a unique user ID with this information. It continues to collect information despite a subsequent uninstall of the program that uses the Aureate software. It remains resident and active on your system. It also enables possible abusive uses that Aureate denies availing itself of. Clearly, this software is too aggressive and represents a security risk. Don't get me wrong. I like the basic idea of the Aureate software. Unfortunately, the implementation is too aggressive IMO.
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