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Limewire Gets Ads, And Accusations of Spyware
Gerard J. Pinzone writes: "Limewire 1.8 now comes with mandatory banner ads. The reasons given by one of their developers, Christopher Rohrs, for the new ads are that
'Bandwidth alone from www.limewire.com,
www.limewire.org, and router.limewire.com is around $10,000 month! And we need to pay developer's salaries--like mine--to keep driving innovation on the Gnutella network.' On top of all this, the banner ad software Limewire is using is
"Cydoor". Many users are complaining that this is
spyware. Here is a link to the message in the Gnutella forums where this topic is being
discussed"
Bandwidth alone ... is around $10,000 month!
That's the pre-SlashdotEffect figure, right?/p.
Well I installed LimeWire 1.8 a few days ago and it ASKS you if you want to install Gator and/or cydoor. I said no and LimeWire is essentially the same as 1.7 (but with a banner)
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
Non-story. Limewire is open source. Go download it and remove any ads if you want, whiny bitches:
m e
http://limewire.limewire.org/servlets/ProjectHo
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
... all the more reason to use the open-sourced version... remember?
I notice that limewire.org still advertises 1.7 as the most recent version.
AHHHHHHH! I'm burning with goodness again!
- Reakk, Sluggy Freelance
I have absolutely no hard feelings against using banner ads, they may be a nuisance, but you know, these people have families, and they need to eat, but spyware is the most insidious, dispicable, underhanded way of making a profit, and any company who uses such "utilities" should be sued for theft of our bandwidth, in my humble opinion, i wonder how much money in bandwidth has been stolen from Joe Consumer by these numerous programs that employ spyware, i would like to see that statistic.
I hate sigs.
Bearshare pops up to an immediate ad, and also usually spawns a browser window to show an ad. Pretty annoying, but it's not a big deal to just close the spawned window and get on with your business... not really a big deal if limewire does it... besides, if it helps keep them in business, then i say go for it!
...it wasn't slow enough.
Damn Java.
SIGFEH
Regardless of server costs -- or whatever ... Spyware is wrong -- it should be illegal. I also dont trust the "wolf" here submitting a story about their being no wolves in sheeps clothing.
Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
Who's still using Gnutella? GiFT just had a breakthrough with the development of ShadowFT
Download it. Give it a try...
I haven't used LimeWire since I discovered the KaZaa family of networks. LimeWire seems to have the same problem Gnutella did about two years ago - the network is *SO* huge that it fragments and you can't find anything. Most things >100MB (i.e. DivX movie trailers, etc...) are either interrupted due to dropped routing, or killed by the other host. The only thing I get in the "search monitor" is:
(this is a snippit of my LimeWire 1.07 search monitor I fired up just for this post. 5 seconds generated these queries):
xxx
kiddy f*ck
*.mp3
"Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" [vv].avi
nudist
Windows XP Professional.iso
how to hack
*.mp3
porn.jpg
l33t warez
ts.wasco*.avi
12 year old
*.mp3
GOD DAMNIT PEOPLE USE THIS AS A CHAT CLIENT
a.gif
kazaa
and it continues.
Conclusion: There's nothing good ON the Gnutella network. (!= The Gnutella Network is not good.)
www.httpads.com
Basically he allows other people to do impulse buying of ads on his website. Very Interesting, and useful
And yes, he is making money on this angle.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
I said no and had crap on my desktop. I believe it installed something besides limewire as well. I quickly uninstalled it and went back to 1.7.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
Playboy.com was the biggest ad. "Get a subscription for $1."
Too bad they didn't integrate their ads with their software for people that filter out adult content.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
It seems like "everyone" these days is paranoid about spyware lurking in their software, programs designed to monitor your precious packets as they bounce around the internet.
..
:)
Either don't install these add-ons (most installers ask these days) or set up your firewall to deny outgoing connections to them (you do have a firewall, right?). Failing that, run a filtering proxy like Proxomitron (Windows only, Linux equivalents exist). If you're not to scared to compile the source yourself, get the latest build of LimeWire's source and customize it the way you like, as was mentioned in a previous post.
When you send and receive e-mail messages through your ISP, they could easily figure out what times of day you get the most mail, when you send the most mail, your average file attachment size, etc. just by doing a statistical analysis of the mail server's log files; but no one talks about how SendMail could be spyware!
What's wrong with a little data mining? A lot, most would say. Every time you purchase something with your debit card or use coupons at the grocery store, you're telling some large corporation about your habits (this is old news to most). What's the difference if a piece of spyware watches what you do in Internet Explorer? You lose a little privacy? You lose your sanity? You lose your favourite box of rusty nails?
Seems pretty silly to me to worry about things like that when you could just uninstall the software, kill the spyware with Ad-Aware (or your axe of choice) and try a different product. Even better, write your own client and be done with it
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You'd think that just maybe that would be an incentive to USE the distributed network itself to distribute your digitally signed app in order to cut costs.
Anyway, I recall that BearShare eventually got around to forcing various kinds of "adware" (spyware) down your throat, but after the bitching got to be too much, Vinnie grew half a conscience and instead begged you to Opt-In to the scheme.
Of course, there's a big difference between LimeWire (open but SLOW as snot), and BearShare (closed but the fastest).
Power to the Peaceful
I heard Linux is spyware. Why, with a simple one letter command
$ w
....
I can see what anybody on a system is doing, in REAL TIME! Imagine what this would mean for marketroids who got ahold of this information!
The only solution is to delete Linux from your systems now. Here's how:
$ DELETE LINUX.EXE
bash: DELETE: command not found
It's even nice enough to tell you that it's not found anymore. Hope this helps everyone rid their systems of spyware!
And we need to pay developer's salaries--like mine--to keep driving innovation on the Gnutella network.
Gnutella and peer networks in general are going to continue evolving and innovating regardless of whether you specifically are involved.
If there is one thing I hate about all these projects it is the lame excuses for significant and broad invasions of privacy by people who cannot build a decent business model.
Instead they take a short cut, sell privacy invasion for a quick fix, and say that it is all for the good of the user.
Just because it makes money does not mean spyware is a proper or even tolerable method of funding work on your project or business, regardless of what it is.
Peer networks are about empowering and utilizing individuals communicating at the edge of the network. Invading their privacy like this defeats the purpose and sells everyone short.
So, I can see why a lot of people want to use limewire...but if this spyware thing rules it out for you, give kazaa a shot.
Of course, if they charged for their software, then there would be no need for ads or spyware.
-
In the old days you worried about viruses. Now, the companies themselves try to take control of your desktop in order to shove ads down your throat. It's a shame you can't trust software developers anymore but at least there's programs like Ad Aware, ZoneAlarm, Popup Stopper, etc that help you fight back. (And negative ratings on download.com help punish spyware-pushing companies too.)
The entire POINT of Gator is to be spyware, much like the Comet Cursor. It offers a free and stupid little feature to attract as many people as possible for the purpose of getting spyware on their computer. Of course it still uses it, because it still exists!
Try WinMX. It seems to be one of the last P2P programs left that doesn't put Spyware on your computer. It uses the OpenNap, Napster, WinMX, and other networks to search for files, and my experience with it has been pretty good. It's not as popular as the others, but it gets the job done and it does it without spyware.
I havent run LimeWire in a long time but I've gotta say that if this article bothers you please stop using LimeWire. They have every right to make money, if you don't like it simply stop using the service. However to even hint that their new marketing strategies are unethical is the height of ignorance. You have choice, exercise it.
if you have a broadband connection and you're looking for a good gnutella client, try Xolox it does simultaneous, restartable downloads. it's not as good as morpheus for identifying identical content, and the gnutelly network doesn't support the rich metadata that morpheus has, but it's the best gnutella client i have found, nothing fancy..
I see people saying try Kazaa instead, but on my system it was Kazaa that installed Cydoor. When I used Ad-aware to remove Cydoor, Kazaa refused to run and told me I had removed files it needed and should reinstall.
I've recently been quoted just over $2k per month for a multilink dual T1 connection. The sales engineer told me that beyond 6 T1s it was cheaper to go with fractional DS3. So I figure that $10k has to be buying a lot of bandwidth. I'd guess that it'd be something like 18Mbps, which is a lot of bandwidth.
Still, once you get into DS3 land the local loop has to be crushingly expensive.
And on a regular basis send out an ad for themselves, through the software perhaps, asking for donations. If the donations don't come, or they aren't enough, take the server(s) down once a week, or twice a week, or permanently, whatever, until the donations reach the necessary level.
Anything but ads! Ads on the computer are just like white noise to me now, my brain has somehow learned to half-ignore them, not registering what they are about, but being annoyed by their presence.
If they die off because of lack of funds, then, well, natural selection in full effect. Something better will come along.
See the subject, but as an aside:
Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
Stupid lameness filter...There wasn't a single cap letter in the first version of this post????????
I had a Qwest DS3 full bandwidth for $16K at my last company. Local loop was waived. Installation was waived. Same deal for T1's, but $1K - anywhere qwest serviced (can't do some states cause they are the LEC there... FCC shit.) Don't do a circuit with "burstable" or any limits / usage charges - that's crap.
You have to know how to negotiate. The major carriers are hungry. They will deal. Direct lines are ALWAYS cheaper / Mbit than colo hosting.
The program is Ad-Aware. It's a freeware program available at www.lavasoftusa.com Ad aware looks for spyware on your computer and then allows you to (selectively) delete it. You'll be amazed how much can be there. The first time I ran it it found over 200 (!) files on my computer. Needless to say, the computer not only was a lot faster once I deleted all these trojans, but more stable as well. Try it, you'll like it.
Two problems with this though:
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
Ehh... well it all boils down to Cydoor not being ported to MacOS, Linux, etc. It's wintel spyware.
Don't get me wrong, I can live without this software, but it is also a symptom of developers not making the effort to port their work to other platforms.
The LimeGroup should just query for banner ads via their Java Client. I see no real reason for a thrid party, and I do support their use of ads. The new "super node" beta is freek'n awesome... instant access to tons of files. No more long connects. Ads are a small price to pay to keep development going.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
Yes, Fastrack has better features and content right now. Still, gnutella will always be around, and it's going to get better soon. Check out this writeup of the gnutella developer meeting at last week's O'Reilly P2P conference and also this one. With the addition of hash searches/results (which can enable swarm downloads) and supernodes, gnutella will be competitive with KaZaa and its Fasttrack cohorts.
GPL, for linux and QT/KDE. Has everything I need and looks prettier. Faster too.
/. who whine about the spyware on their Windows machines. GO AWAY!
A new version (0.3) was released two days ago.
I have no sympathy for all the losers on
Here is the URL: http://www.qtella.net/
Description:
Qtella is a new Gnutella client for Linux written in C++ using the Qt libraries. It should be no problem to use Qtella on any platforms where Qt with thread support (library qt-mt must exists) is installed.
The following features are part of Qtella 0.2.1:
multiple search
continue interrupted downloads
uploads
limit number of downloads and uploads
limit upload bandwidth
separate unfinished downloads from finished ones
download of several files at once
test whether file allready exists
identification of download server
automatic retry if error, busy, closed
auto connect list
KDE integration
save host list
handle extended gnutella protocol
status lines and statistics
accecpt incoming connections
download from firewalled hosts
pong cache to reduce network traffic
Moritz
> If there is one thing I hate about all these projects it is the lame excuses for significant and broad invasions of privacy by people who cannot build a decent business model.
Their business model is selling the privacy of their users to ad-companies.
You might not like this (hell, I don't either) but you have to accept that it is a pretty decent one, certainly superior to other ideas like pure banner ads or asking for voluntary contributions.
If you don't like spyware, simply don't use any program that deploys it. Your inane ranting however will do nothing about the mindset of the common Internet user, which is that they accept every oh so damned advertisment scheme as long as they don't have to pay for site content or program licensing.
And since you have been taking the decision to play the "holier-than-thou" side of this discussion, I invite you to either try to make up a better business plan, or to educate an average 15 years old that paying $5 per month for a service they like isn't so bad...
You gets what you pays for. If the developers can't afford to support and run software, be it high bandwidth requirements or just needing to feed their kids then they need to find money somewhere. Adverts != money. Spyware == money. Registration fee == money.
since Kazza changed their protocol to a server-centric model (go read the link you just posted). Besides, QTella kicks Limewire's butt anays.
Its a pretty simple concept, we have a program that allows us to edit all .html/.php/.jsp/etc files on any of our web servers with a web based interface.
/developers/file.php HTTP /1.0" 302 0
If one of these "stastical" programs captured my entire POST when I updated lets say... a PHP or JSP page, they would have source code to one of my other web based porgrams.
And furthermore, there are servers that access files on my web server that are DEFIENTLY not linked from ANYWHERE on the WWW or my index.html.
216.35.116.58 - - [11/Nov/2001:16:43:33-0600] "GET
Which resolves to
j3018.inktomi.com
Curiously, I found a few spyware programs on my computer that I got from using Gamespy (ironic huh?). Lavasoft is cool, and helped me get rid of all those programs.
Fortuantly, that has a password on it, and it won't even let you in unless you access via HTTPS. BUT, what if I was using security through obscurity?
What if one of these spyware programs searches for username/password combinations and sends them encrypted with what "looks" to be statistical data?
The fact of the matter is, this is crap, and no one should try to even defend these people.
MS may have forced OEM's to preinstall windoze on your pc (clue in Dept. of Justice), but thereafter, the choice is yours.
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess? - Joshua (Wargames)
Im impressed... limewhat?
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
The new face to face network involves talking to real people, is kind of scarey and unintuitive at first and yes there are some ppl that could be considered "spyware".
However we have figured it is a simple as a two click (boom) uninstall.
The transfer rates are fast! Get cd's from your "network of friends" and as your cd-burner can go you'll have whatever you're looking for.
And best of all, nobody is excluded from joining unless you don't want them to! FTP and IRC protocols allow you to deny/allow whomever you wish. No banners, no ads and you (w)get whatever you deserve.
One cavet in all of this is you will have to upgrade your wetware to better versions of commonsense.libs, intelligence.exe conversations.dll's.
Thank you.
Visits us at www.internet dinosaurs r us.com
If it is not on fire, it is a software problem.
But in this day and age of all the content providers going down fast, it is pretty evident that the people who sale the bandwidth have just got to be rolling in the cash...I am always seeing stories like "THis site cost $$ K per month in bandwidth fees to operate"...The people who sale bandwith have to be saying: "What do you mean this economy sucks -- we are soooo rich"
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
A great website about all this is ThiefWare.
They have comprehensive descriptions of all the companies and the spyware they install.
I discovered this site after being called by a "representative" wanting to sell our company keywords for $30,000! My boss was psyched about it until I impressed upon him that we did not want to be associated with such scum. The bizarro thing was that this salesman didn't even work for Cydoor Networks...they seemed to be parasites of the parasites.
Thanks.
Adam Fisk
LimeWire
Adam Fisk
The normal download does not provide source code. You can get it using CVS, or through the developer section.
My server
Just so ya know... I downloaded Limewire 1.8 this weekend and installed it on OS X 10.1 - no ad software, no banners, just like 1.7 only with different tabs/widgets. :-)
Moderators need an additional choice: "Karma Whore" for people who cut-and-paste articles as their comments!
Napster makes money off distribution of copyright information. Napster gets sued and shut down. Fasttrack makes money off distribution of copyright information. Fasttrack gets sued. LimeWire makes money off distibution of copyright information. At least Gnutella isn't a sueable entity.
Join the Slashcott! Stay away entirely Feb 10 thru Feb 17! Close all tabs to prevent autorefresh!
Exactly how does it benefit them by adding more strain to their bandwith (with resulting increased costs) with adverts? Will the income from the ads really offset the additional costs of the extra bandwidth requirements?
I just browsed the limewire developer website. The next version (1.9) will include cool new download technology and meta search technology (XML based). This stuff just missed the 1.8 release but is expected to be released soon.
:-). Internet time is just passing too soon for them I guess. Next thing you know, you're irrelevant and your business model blows up in your face.
In addition, the major gnutella problem (scalability)is going to be addressed in a beta release shortly after that. Historically, Limewire has releases every few weeks so I suspect a 2.0 could be here before the end of this year. With the introduction of supernodes, gnutella will be as scalable as fasttrack (essentially supernodes are the key difference between the fasttrack protocol and the gnutella protocol). Only it will be open (both the protocol and the implementations). This is very good news.
I'm increasingly annoyed with the crappy/buggy morpheus interface (kazaa is exactly the same but includes spyware). I experience random crashes and the UI seems to be assembled by a couple of morons. My little sister could do a better job given a 3 day course in VB for dummies.
I always liked the limewire interface, with the improved search ability it will be a worthy competitor to kazaa/morpheus and with the supernodes in place it will be as scalable as the fasttrack network.
I really like the way this is evolving. Just as the RIAA is starting to sue Fastrack licensees, something else they deemed irrelevant before is given a new chance. It must drive them nuts. Gnutella must have at least a dozen different clients. No one owns the protocol and most clients are open-source. The only way to ban it is to start sueing on the client side. Luckily, freenet is still improving too
Jilles