Slashdot Mirror
Spyware in Kazaa, Limewire, Grokster
BigMacMike writes: "The San Francisco Chronicle (via the sfgate.com website) has a story that Kazaa, LimeWire, and others have secretly hidden software in their applications that track users' browsing habits." Not the first time. The corporate response is that they literally didn't know what was in these secondary applications that they were providing to be downloaded and installed alongside their primary program. Believe it if you wish.
Does it really matter all the much? Most of the stuff spyware could obtain from my uses would be pretty useless anyhow.
Does anyone know if this applies to Mac versions of Limewire?
Take your pick. Let people know what you download, or don't download things. Free music has a price, and it's really not all that bad if your computer doesnt have anything REALLY incriminating on it. No, I'm not saying spyware is good, I'm saying that given the choices, it's not THAT bad.
:)
That and linux kazaa run as a restricted user would yield some interesting spyware data
I am !amused.
... for downloading all that pr0n...
hope limewire doesn't sell this info to my girlfriend...
"honey, this jenna jameson person has alot of stuff on your computer, do you work with her?"
If you don't like spyware, try out MusicCity Morpheus. Almost the same thing as Kazaa, but on the front page, they guarantee "no spyware". I'd say to vote with your $$, but since both services are free, you'll have to vote with banner-clicking.
The future isn't what it used to be.
I was under the impression that it was illegal for companies to install this sort of spyware. Is it legal for companies to write software that reports back to the creator. If so, is it illegal under the DMCA to block those reporting mechanisms in your firewall?
use Ad Aware and discover what we already should have known. Bearshare and AudioGalaxy do, too. Big deal.
Zonealarm shows it's doing funky stuff.
The solution to this is: don't use them. Or, use a version of them that doesn't have the spyware. Limewire version 1.3 is a little slower but doens't have ads or spyware (but 1.7+ does).
-- Kevin
Unitarian Church: Freethinkers Congregate!
IMO, spyware is the single issue that is going to weigh heaviest in the scales in the eventual switch of businesses (and sensible users) from CSS to OSS.
It's a real shame, though, that most businesses can't seem to see any value in the internet beyond collecting data about consumers.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
another program that gives a user access to the gnutella network comes with 3 spyware programs to spy on users...
.free , .shop, .game and .xxx, etc, etc.... also, as they have to query an alternative DNS to let you access these sites, they will be able to track every visit to new.net-"powered" sites.
:-\
first being Onflow Media Player... it is a Flash-like browser plug-in which displays animations and transmits user behavior information (not further specified) to the Onflow central servers.
second being SaveNow... SaveNow displays context-related shopping pop-up windows in IE... the context information seems to reside on the client side so that no information has to be transmitted to the central server
third being New.net, which is an alternative Domain Name Service which allows you to connect to TLDs like
not to mention all of these programs have silent auto-updates...
why can't we all just use FreeNet?
"The ones who dont do anything are always the ones who try to pull you down" -- Henry Rollins
Interesting that legit companies are using the kind of tactics once reserved for the more 'underground' elements... and that they're using p2p (read: illegal file sharing, regardless of the flame war that it might start) all that much moreso.
Guvegrra?
This past week there was an article on some other source (can't remember) that focused on the whole issue of whether it was a trojan (last paragraph of this story).
As I recall, the spyware also sent the urls that users visited to a machine with an odd domain name (something like 2001-007.com) EVEN IF PEOPLE WANTED TO AVOID INSTALLING THE SPYWARE. This is why it was called a trojan.
I'm not sure if it turns out the software wasn't sending the info (reporter error) or if they've glossed over that fact...
Either way. Blah. Spyware is why I don't play Snood anymore. They use gator which does all sorts of lame stuff to hide itself on install.
Look, if you have to trick users or hide your program, then it probably isn't a "valuable bonus program." Stupid marketing bastards...
Buy Hex-Rated Stuff, fight the DMCA!
If the information they collect was useless, then they would not collect the information.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
Download the acclaimed Ad Aware program (link provided) here. It searches your registry and all your drives for running and installed spyware programs. It works great.
First - the worst spyware/malware/virus.
/. says that a majority of people are using ie 5.0, opera allows you to change its settings so it looks like it is ie (for the fucking sites that wont let other browers in) I switched, i dunno about others..
Fucking Bonzai Buddy
I swear that fucker resides in the MBR it is such a pain to get rid of. Once it is gone, windows is unstable (yeah, yah troll on, 2k is damn stable before this shit is installed)
Second, the exec lies thru his teeth.
And the clicktilluwin "not do anything until activated" motto is pure bullshit, this thing starts sending data from the moment it is installed beside limewire.
Of course, http://www.lavasoftusa.com/index.html is an awesome prog - ad aware lets you know what shit you have on your system and then removes it usually quite effectively. To be honest, shit like this might actually be a good arguement for open source, how many "features" are installed in popular programs that we have no idea of - i.e. they have been integrated into the program. Its also a really fucking good arguement for using opera (BTW, you know
One last thought: Clicktilluwin
It was classified as a trojan horse, because that is what it is - think of this - if the av manufacuters bent over a desk for these fuckers (declassifying this "program" as a trojan), you think that they would protect you from the FBI?!?!!?
Shit, if the threat of a lawsuit is all it takes, someone could make a virus, sue all the av companies that made solutions, and then sell "protection"...
1q2w3e4r5t6y7u8i9o0pqawsedrftgthyjukilo;p'azsxdcf
I've seen the discussions on the Fasttrack forums about this problem. The creators have consistently denied knowledge that the programs were indeed spyware. My question: when the sales people from these spyware vendors were offering Kazaa et al money to include these programs in the clients, what did the Kazaa creators THINK the purpose of said programs were? It seems just a little too easy to claim total ignorance on this.
---
I didn't want to leave this space blank.
This is not an issue, afaik, if you're running any of these apps for linux.
This was discussed on The Register a couple of days ago.
From the article:
"We sometimes bundle advertiser applications with our installer in order to help pay for our costs here at Grokster. We are normally given an installer from the advertiser which we run during the installation of Grokster. We have no access to the source code of these third-party installers and so we rely on what our advertisers say these programs do. To the best of our knowledge, this particular advertiser simply placed a link to a free online lottery on the desktop. We were never informed that it installed or was a Trojan."
If you run a leaky os, what do you expect?
So how can a user tell if this tracking program has been installed on their machine? The article was awfully skimpy on details...
"Do you expect me to talk?" "No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!"
from The Register as well about this.
I noticed this several weeks ago. An application called something like whagent.exe would crash during my kazaa sessions.
My only guess was that it was not fairing well after I put in place measures to block known spyware apps.
I simply removed the offending program and now I'm probably a little less spyware free. I have grown to expect such things from useful free service providers, but on occassion I've been known to circumvent their efforts.
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
I wrote an article on Kuro5hin entitled The Spyware Invasion when I found out that there was a piece of Spyware(WebHancer) on my machine that was logging EVERY URL I VISITED. It turns out that this company sells these statistics that they obtain from over 16 million unsuspecting users to businesses for over $12,000 a pop.
What bothered me in particular about this approach is that I know a few websites that log users in with their pasword in the URL (Slashdot is one of them) and I wondered exactly how many of my passwords and userIDs had been sent to webHancer over the past weeks I had it unknowingly running on my machine. Of course, I quickly ran Ad-Aware on my machine and changed all my online passwords.
PS: The offending application that installed this spyware was AudioGalaxy.
Because if we all used FreeNet it would crash like a Microsoft built cessna flown by John Denver.
AD-AWARE (current 5.62) is one of the BEST ad removal tools for windows computer, grab it at Lavasoft. It's free, it has updates (download the latest definition file after installing the 5.62 version) and I've tracked it's every move with a filesystem scanner, and it doesn't put thrash anywhere in your system.
It scans Registry, cookies, files, dlls, and it found the Kazaa backdoor installed in my system. Usually when you put a software you can remove it's tracking bugware and the main software will still run (I remember posting an article here over a year ago about bearshare having that same type of crap that Kazaa is using right now but it got rejected). What's interresting about Kazaa is if you remove the offending DLL (which is Cydoor bugtracking stuff), Kazaa won't start anymore, this really shows how BAD they want to track your moves.
While I don't have anything against software companies making a buck by selling tracked info, I do have something against companies being hypocritical about it. When you install Kazaa, it offers you a lot of "free stuff" that any above average users knows that it means advertising stuff, spamming and tracking. This is okay in my book at LEAST it's part of the installer and if you don't know and say yes, well that becomes your problem. What I find really hypocritical is i've unselected EVERYTHING exept "Kazaa needed files" and it STILL installed that bugware thing, and it's not mentionned anywhere CLEARLY in the installer. People get pissed at microsoft activation process which is clear, known and way less intrusive than that, but they let that pass in exchange of leeching free MP3, vids, p0rn and warez. If one day the big suppliers of content on that services have an FBI raid at their places, they'll scream justice and claim that FBI couldn't use the informatin that Kazaa was getting from them because it's not constitutionnal. Well I'd say, make up your mind, if you want P2P and privacy, go to some other service, an example, Download winMX, run Ad-aware in case there's anything installed with the newer versions, and it will probably still run after the cleaning process (I use winMX I love it). Don't support crooks like Kazaa and bearshare that are trying to look friendly, on your side, and pro this and that, while they turn around and sell your browsing habbits without your knowledge.
Also, notice when you're not uploading or downloading, but kazaa is running.. your drive burps every 5 seconds.... I'm still trying to figure out why.. it doesn't stop even after an hour.. it's not "windows-typical" drive burping.
Anyways... hope that helps anyone out there.
--- Metamoderating abusive downgraders since my 300th post.
I quote:
It has come to Lime Wire's attention over the past 24 hours that one of the bundled software installers included with LimeWire 2.0.2 for the PC is now considered a SpyWare/Trojan by various anti-virus software packages. We have received complaints from our users and we have worked quickly to resolve this issue by putting out a new beta immediately yesterday and rolling LimeWire 2.0.3 for the PC into production at 3:30PM EST today (Jan 1. Note that this did not affect LimeWire 2.0.2 P (LimeWire PRO) users.. We will be communicating further with LimeWire 2.0.2 PC users as information becomes available.
Workaround for all of this nonsense: don't download the Windows-specific version, get one of the ones without an installer (such as the Linux or Solaris versions) from here and use that instead. It removes one layer of laziness as you have to install the JRE and make the icon yourself, but it does mean that the ONLY code that LimeWire can install and execute on your system is a) visible and b) written in Java, which means it can't do anything too evil (read: anything platform-specific).
Hope this helps...
Here's a (dutch :P) site about this thing, with more details
http://www.zdnet.nl/News.cfm?id=14504
The article says that LimeWire 2.0.2 and Grokster ask on installation if you want to install a certain 'service' or program called 'ClickTillUWin'. Whether or not you confirm or deny this request, it secretly DOES install it on your pc. This so-called online lottery game contains the trojan. If you go to clicktilUwin.com you'll see that there are possibly more programs 'infected' by this trojan (check the partners section).
What is basically does (according to the above article) is install a file called Dlder.exe. When you start the p2p program it came with, dlder.exe will automatically start too and download a second piece, called explorer.exe (and no, not the same one windows users normally have). This program then does some things to the windows registry and sends usernames and your ip adress to http://www.2001-007.com.
Symantec (the guys of Norton Antivirus) have called this thing a trojan horse and all of their antivirus applications will regognize it as one. The above article also states that other antiviruscompanies have also already updated their software (waiting for you to press the 'update button' that is :)
One important question is the value of the data they collect. Will advertisers buy such 'black market' data? Or is the data collected by the developers 'just because they can?'
It is really in these companies' best interest to risk losing the faith of their users for this data which probably won't make them any money?
Limewire is GNU licensed, and therefore open source. If you have a problem with spyware, then roll your own version. I don't even think the source code has the spyware, so all you have to do is compile. Now as for other closed source software that doesn't tell the user of it's misdeeds - I can't defend that.
LS
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
It's been put up here lord knows how many times, but here goes again. I use the Lavasoft software Ad-Aware to check and clean my system on a regular basis. Not only do I use it, if I have a friend who is having problems with their system, I usually will run it there as well. nine times out of ten they have a program that is running in the background, that Adware classifies as "Spyware". Removing the "spyware" components my the friends system often fixes the problems they are having. It always finds things that shouldn't be on their system. We can debate cookies forever, but I'm talking about software that serves ads, sends information, or otherwise takes control of your system or partially takes control.
The old sage about not installing software from unknown sources applies more than ever, I don't know who these people are, but from reports I've seen and heard I wouldn't even consider installing them.
. If I do download software and install it (it inevitable) I scan the download for viruses and trojans, backup my registry, install it and then run Ad-Aware. If Ad-Aware detects anything from the program, i uninstall the sucker. Then I reboot and run the old registry as well.
It seems the spyware is windows only. Also worth mentioning is that you can compile Limewire from CVS and doing that you will not compile the spyware. However...
Limewire (for Windows) installs spyware even if you uncheck the box!
Got friends?
The lost of privacy was bad enough, but SaveNow seems to work by hooking into Windows Explorer and intercepting a great many application events. For a long time I blammed the resulting performance hit on a combination of my own excessive system tweaking, buggy Explorer plugins, and MS software bloat. It wasn't until Explorer froze up totally that I realized some background process was interfering with it, and found the culprit by process of elimination.
It strikes me that this is not very different from activities that have gotten people sued or even arrested. It's all there -- unauthorized access, theft of services, malicious action. Perhaps it's time we gave Mister Ashcroft a call!
Free music doesn't have to have a price.. it's not like there is some kind of trade-off between free music and spyware, dictated by the laws of physics. As a user and a software developer, I think spyware is unethical and I won't support its use or use it on my computers. There's perfectly good peer to peer software that doesn't have spyware (Morpheus) so that's what I use..
I'm not totally positive this is entirely true but I've noticed an anomoly whilst running LimeWire on Windows. When it launches a little 2x2 pixel entity pops up in the top left corner of the screen. It can be clicked and moved around the screen but doesn't respond to anything else I've tried except Alt+F4 which makes it go away (I assume closes it). It also doesn't shot up in task manager as an individual process so I'm further assuming it is a thread in the LimeWire process contained in the JVM. I haven't cared enough to further try to figure out what it is. Is it mentioned in LimeWire's literature and has anybody else seen it?
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
Grokster and possible trojan
Clicktilluwin DLDER Trojan"
Some people are on lines which charge for data transfer volume, leased lines and corporate ADSL in germany for instance, charging upto 35DM per gigabyte, but spyware would have to transfer a lot of data to start costing the victims money.
Perhaps someone should reverse engineer the protocols used by these tools, and create a program for people to run, which sends random/garbage data back to the central server.. It would be amusing to know i am visiting http://ybgqjXimzgsrcgggz2Bjzt7mminfhy/jJsb94Vag a lot...
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
I wonder if they'll try to sneak it into Gnapster... Oh wait... I could read the sourcecode and see it there....
another example that Open source is better.
(Besides, Gnapster on OpenNAP servers is useful (would be more useful if people would get a clue and open the ports on their firewall to actually share those files.)
and the only thing I would love to see changed... if you disconnect, the server erases that you existed and all your shares instead of listing them... that is a pain in the butt.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
As the previous post mentioned above "Ad-aware" is a great program to snif your winblows boxes for spyware.
The January issue of "Smart Computing" has a great article describing which programs are spying on you and some other recommended programs to protect your machine.
A friend of mine keeps getting CometCursor installed on her laptop without her permission. She runs AdAware every so often to find and remove it, but it keeps reappearing.
She suspects it's being installed covertly by some Web sites she visits (though we haven't yet isolated which ones). She surfs with IE, but even so, it seems highly improbable to me that something like CometCursor could be downloaded and installed behind the user's back.
I know CometCursor is spyware, but does anyone have more details about this particular behavior?
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
Use Morpheus. I have known about Kazaa and it's spyware built-in for quite some time now, yet Morpheus is better as it doesn't have spyware and it also allows you to download MP3s larger than 128 kbit.
Getting older versions of Limewire also allows you to defeat the spyware.
What do you think of MusicCity now?
be funny if the marketing companies suddenly realizied that millions were visiting goatse.cx about 100 times a day....imagine the commercials....
Use a hardware firewall. Software firewalls are just as secure (or insecure) as the operating system they run under. I wouldn't run a MS operating system on the Internet without one, and I'm an MCSE. Go ahead, flame away...I passed my last test and got the last of my Borg parts yesterday.
However, I did have the cojones to get the Hotmail address "PenguinistaMCSE." So far MS hasn't said boo to me about it. Heh heh heh...
Actually I wouldn't run ANY computer without a hardware firewall on the Internet. Period.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
The big throw was that the ads that were being served up always seemed to come from different places. One day, I decided to look into it, and discovered that all the ads were being downloaded from VX2.
VX2 is a very devious piece of sofwtare, logging every one of the sites you visit, and then popping an ad every once in a while. If you surf quickly, throttles itself; surf slowly, and it pops for every site. Quite devious, really.
I recommend downloading some of the software that's already been mentioned (e.g. adaware) -- they do a very good job of getting rid of all sorts of garbage.
I run proxomitron at work, I noticed that i kept hitting google when I was working on a company website. Later I noticed Google was already indexing my website. Like most users I trusted google wouldnt bounce my URLs off google, but they did.
Also, I started using Tiny firewall and started to block alot of software. Couple things I noticed, alot of m$ software trys to talk to the net. Office, Explorer, Windows Networking (not plain tcp/ip), m$ hardware drivers for mouse and keyboard, media player.
Also using a firewall stopped alot of freeware programs that grabs ad's worked great, they just couldnt get the banner ads or talk to the net.
We also use firewall software on our Sun production boxes we use EFS, encyrpted firewall software. It has a nice ACL list you can really lock down traffic. Only open port 80 for web traffic, and only to the load balancers, only allow SSH on the control network. Sometimes while your putting in a new network, the firewall ruleset is very basic, locking down the boxes help add a some security, and everything is logged to a logging server.
-
I was so naive as a kid I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing. - Johnny Carson
Kazaa and Morpheus both use the same P2P network, notably the one made by FastTrack, a company based in the Netherlands. So, if you want to use the network without spyware, give Kazaa a miss and grab Morpheus instead. Also, I think Morpheus has a Linux client available (I may be wrong on that though).
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Almost forgot: to disable Morpheus's advertising, add:
127.0.0.1 ads.musiccity.com
to your hosts file. Done and done.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I found an nice free website that will run a JavaScript in your browser that detects various kinds of spyware and directs you to instructions on how to remove it. He also offers the source up for free so webmasters can help combat this scourge by hosting the script on their own pages. (That way all your site visitors will be warned about they spyware as they visit your site). It doesn't seem to detect this one though.
I dug this up when I discovered a few months back that AudioGalaxy had secretly installed a similar application called VX2 on my PC. The odd thing was that Audio Galaxy wanted to install BonziBuddy too, but it let me choose. But no choice with this other one. Fortunately it was easy to remove and AG runs fine without it.
I'd like to set my private dns server to resolve them to 127.0.0.1 - I am especially interested in the kazaa one, since I use morpheus. I've already redirected sites like auto.search.msn.com, since every incorrectly url typed into IE is sent there.
here is a really comprehensive hosts file that blocks morpheus,bearshare,hotline and 10,000 advert servers, daily updates, instructions and works on all platforms including Linux/beos/macs ;)
A friend of mine worked at webHancer for a while. Trust me, there's a nice dialog that:
1. tells you what webHancer is
2. tells you what webHancer does
3. asks you if you want to install audiogalaxy with or without it.
I've installed audiogalaxy several times, and all you have to do is uncheck the check box. But most people click "Next" without even reading the dialogs.
You consented to it. That doesn't make it spyware, it makes it ignorantware.
What I find most disconcerting about this entire situation is that if I do something like this I'm a "bad girl" and face possible charges under vague federal law but when a company does it nothing happens to them - they issue an "apology" and it's over.
-------
I don't have a solution, but I certainly admire the problem.
First of all I wonder how people get shocked about those companies making evil things...
Second is, I sure wonder how Gnucleus ( http://www.gnucleus.com ) which is a full open source program works perfectly on win32 platform isn't mentioned on messages.
The coder guy(s) say now it has even multi-source downloading, just like fasttrack.
There is also another problem, as those programs are closed source, how come they won't have _native_ spying? e.g. Morpheus sending current URL of IE easily from urlmon.dll to that dutch company? I mean, anyone checked it yet?
1st a quote..
"F-Secure Virus Descriptions
NAME: DlDer
ALIAS: Trojan.Win32.DlDer, Troj_DlDer
This two-component trojan was discovered in the end of December 2001. The trojan being installed on a user's system constantly upgrades its main component that connects to 2001-007.com website and reports user's ID, web browser a user is using and all URLs that a web browser and all its child windows open. The trojan violates user's privacy and opens a security hole in a system by downloading and activating executable files.
The main component of the trojan is Explorer.exe file that is located in Windows folder in \Explorer\ subfolder (do not mix with the original Windows' Explorer.exe). This component is constantly upgraded by the second trojan component that has the name 'DlDer.exe' and is located in Windows folder.
The DlDer.exe file is most likely dropped to user's system by ActiveX applet or Javascript code that a user doesn't notice when he is browsing Internet. The exact way how this file is dropped is not yet known. The case is under investigation.
The DlDer.exe file when it is started downloads Explorer.exe file from a website and puts it to \Windows\Explorer\ folder. Then the trojan creates a startup key for Explorer.exe file. On next System restart the Explorer.exe file is activated and it creates a startup key for DlDer.exe file and starts to connect to 2001-007.com website and report user's ID, web browser and all URLs that a user visits to there.
We recommend to delete both trojan components from an infected system. If these components can't be deleted (locked files) they should be deleted from pure DOS (in case of Windows 9x system) or renamed with different extensions (EXA for example) with immediate system restart (in case of Windows NT/2000/XP system).
[F-Secure Anti-Virus Research Team, December 28th, 2001]"
Now some links
Astechnica Forum - "Is download.com infected with a virus???"
Arstechnica Forum - "explorer.exe and Explorer.exe"
Computing.Net Forum - "How to delete trojan in explorer.exe"
Gnutella Forum - "p2p Trojan info"
they probably wont mod up a helpful windows post, so the answer for windows users is in the subject line. ad-haters might like to add all these:
127.0.0.1 ads.x10.com
127.0.0.1 ads.musiccity.com
127.0.0.1 207-87-18-203.wsmg.digex.net
127.0.0.1 Garden.ngadcenter.net
127.0.0.1 Ogilvy.ngadcenter.net
127.0.0.1 ResponseMedia-ad.flycast.com
127.0.0.1 Suissa-ad.flycast.com
127.0.0.1 UGO.eu-adcenter.net
127.0.0.1 VNU.eu-adcenter.net
127.0.0.1 a32.g.a.yimg.com
127.0.0.1 ad-adex3.flycast.com
127.0.0.1 ad.adsmart.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ca.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.de.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.fr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.jp.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.linkexchange.com
127.0.0.1 ad.linksynergy.com
127.0.0.1 ad.nl.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.no.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.preferences.com
127.0.0.1 ad.sma.punto.net
127.0.0.1 ad.uk.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.webprovider.com
127.0.0.1 ad08.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 adcontroller.unicast.com
127.0.0.1 adcreatives.imaginemedia.com
127.0.0.1 adex3.flycast.com
127.0.0.1 adforce.ads.imgis.com
127.0.0.1 adforce.imgis.com
127.0.0.1 adfu.blockstackers.com
127.0.0.1 adimage.blm.net
127.0.0.1 adimages.earthweb.com
127.0.0.1 adimg.egroups.com
127.0.0.1 admedia.xoom.com
127.0.0.1 adpick.switchboard.com
127.0.0.1 adremote.pathfinder.com
127.0.0.1 ads.admaximize.com
127.0.0.1 ads.bfast.com
127.0.0.1 ads.clickhouse.com
127.0.0.1 ads.enliven.com
127.0.0.1 ads.fairfax.com.au
127.0.0.1 ads.fool.com
127.0.0.1 ads.freshmeat.net
127.0.0.1 ads.hollywood.com
127.0.0.1 ads.i33.com
127.0.0.1 ads.infi.net
127.0.0.1 ads.jwtt3.com
127.0.0.1 ads.link4ads.com
127.0.0.1 ads.lycos.com
127.0.0.1 ads.madison.com
127.0.0.1 ads.mediaodyssey.com
127.0.0.1 ads.msn.com
127.0.0.1 ads.ninemsn.com.au
127.0.0.1 ads.seattletimes.com
127.0.0.1 ads.smartclicks.com
127.0.0.1 ads.smartclicks.net
127.0.0.1 ads.sptimes.com
127.0.0.1 ads.tripod.com
127.0.0.1 ads.web.aol.com
127.0.0.1 ads.x10.com
127.0.0.1 ads.xtra.co.nz
127.0.0.1 ads.zdnet.com
127.0.0.1 ads01.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads02.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads03.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads04.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads05.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads06.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads08.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads09.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads1.activeagent.at
127.0.0.1 ads10.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads11.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads12.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads14.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads16.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads17.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads18.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads19.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads2.zdnet.com
127.0.0.1 ads20.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads21.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads22.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads23.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads24.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads25.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ads3.zdnet.com
127.0.0.1 ads3.zdnet.com
127.0.0.1 ads5.gamecity.net
127.0.0.1 adserv.iafrica.com
127.0.0.1 adserv.quality-channel.de
127.0.0.1 adserver.dbusiness.com
127.0.0.1 adserver.garden.com
127.0.0.1 adserver.janes.com
127.0.0.1 adserver.merc.com
127.0.0.1 adserver.monster.com
127.0.0.1 adserver.track-star.com
127.0.0.1 adserver1.ogilvy-interactive.de
127.0.0.1 adtegrity.spinbox.net
127.0.0.1 antfarm-ad.flycast.com
127.0.0.1 au.ads.link4ads.com
127.0.0.1 banner.media-system.de
127.0.0.1 banner.orb.net
127.0.0.1 banner.relcom.ru
127.0.0.1 banners.easydns.com
127.0.0.1 banners.looksmart.com
127.0.0.1 banners.wunderground.com
127.0.0.1 barnesandnoble.bfast.com
127.0.0.1 beseenad.looksmart.com
127.0.0.1 bizad.nikkeibp.co.jp
127.0.0.1 bn.bfast.com
127.0.0.1 c3.xxxcounter.com
127.0.0.1 califia.imaginemedia.com
127.0.0.1 cds.mediaplex.com
127.0.0.1 click.avenuea.com
127.0.0.1 click.go2net.com
127.0.0.1 click.linksynergy.com
127.0.0.1 cookies.cmpnet.com
127.0.0.1 cornflakes.pathfinder.com
127.0.0.1 counter.hitbox.com
127.0.0.1 crux.songline.com
127.0.0.1 erie.smartage.com
127.0.0.1 etad.telegraph.co.uk
127.0.0.1 fp.valueclick.com
127.0.0.1 gadgeteer.pdamart.com
127.0.0.1 gm.preferences.com
127.0.0.1 gp.dejanews.com
127.0.0.1 hg1.hitbox.com
127.0.0.1 image.click2net.com
127.0.0.1 image.eimg.com
127.0.0.1 images2.nytimes.com
127.0.0.1 jobkeys.ngadcenter.net
127.0.0.1 kansas.valueclick.com
127.0.0.1 leader.linkexchange.com
127.0.0.1 liquidad.narrowcastmedia.com
127.0.0.1 ln.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 m.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 macaddictads.snv.futurenet.com
127.0.0.1 maximumpcads.imaginemedia.com
127.0.0.1 media.preferences.com
127.0.0.1 mercury.rmuk.co.uk
127.0.0.1 mojofarm.sjc.mediaplex.com
127.0.0.1 nbc.adbureau.net
127.0.0.1 newads.cmpnet.com
127.0.0.1 ng3.ads.warnerbros.com
127.0.0.1 ngads.smartage.com
127.0.0.1 nsads.hotwired.com
127.0.0.1 ntbanner.digitalriver.com
127.0.0.1 ph-ad05.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ph-ad07.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ph-ad16.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ph-ad17.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 ph-ad18.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 realads.realmedia.com
127.0.0.1 redherring.ngadcenter.net
127.0.0.1 redirect.click2net.com
127.0.0.1 regio.adlink.de
127.0.0.1 retaildirect.realmedia.com
127.0.0.1 s2.focalink.com
127.0.0.1 sh4sure-images.adbureau.net
127.0.0.1 spin.spinbox.net
127.0.0.1 static.admaximize.com
127.0.0.1 stats.superstats.com
127.0.0.1 sview.avenuea.com
127.0.0.1 thinknyc.eu-adcenter.net
127.0.0.1 tracker.clicktrade.com
127.0.0.1 tsms-ad.tsms.com
127.0.0.1 v0.extreme-dm.com
127.0.0.1 v1.extreme-dm.com
127.0.0.1 van.ads.link4ads.com
127.0.0.1 view.accendo.com
127.0.0.1 view.avenuea.com
127.0.0.1 w113.hitbox.com
127.0.0.1 w25.hitbox.com
127.0.0.1 web2.deja.com
127.0.0.1 webads.bizservers.com
127.0.0.1 www.admex.com
127.0.0.1 www.alladvantage.com
127.0.0.1 www.commission-junction.com
127.0.0.1 www.freestats.com
127.0.0.1 www.imaginemedia.com
127.0.0.1 www.netdirect.nl
127.0.0.1 www.oneandonlynetwork.com
127.0.0.1 www.targetshop.com
127.0.0.1 www.teknosurf2.com
127.0.0.1 www.teknosurf3.com
127.0.0.1 www.websitefinancing.com
127.0.0.1 www2.burstnet.com
127.0.0.1 www4.trix.net
127.0.0.1 www80.valueclick.com
127.0.0.1 z.extreme-dm.com
127.0.0.1 z0.extreme-dm.com
127.0.0.1 z1.extreme-dm.com
127.0.0.1 toolbar.netscape.com
127.0.0.1 actionsplash.com
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ads.belointeractive.com
127.0.0.1 ads.bluefish.com
127.0.0.1 ads.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ads.inet.com
127.0.0.1 ads.inet1.com
127.0.0.1 ads.intelliads.com
127.0.0.1 ads.realcities.com
127.0.0.1 ads.ucomics.com
127.0.0.1 adserver.matchcraft.com
127.0.0.1 adserver1.harvestadsdepot.com
127.0.0.1 ads1.intelliads.com
127.0.0.1 cj.com
127.0.0.1 clickhereforcellphones.com
172.0.0.1 clickheretofind.com
127.0.0.1 clickthrutraffic.com
127.0.0.1 connect.247media.ads.link4ads.com
127.0.0.1 content.uclick.com
127.0.0.1 hitbox.com
127.0.0.1 kr123.com
127.0.0.1 qksrv.net
172.0.0.1 rmedia.boston.com
127.0.0.1 servedby.advertising.com
127.0.0.1 www.actionsplash.com
127.0.0.1 www.clickhereforcellphones.com
127.0.0.1 www.clickheretofind.com
127.0.0.1 www.clickthrutraffic.com
127.0.0.1 www.cj.com
127.0.0.1 www.kr123.com
127.0.0.1 www.qksrv.net
127.0.0.1 w26.hitbox.com
127.0.0.1 ads.nextlevel.com
Morpheus is a windows app that works on the FastTrak network(same as Kazaa), claims not to install spyware and still works after I did the ad-aware thing. It pops up ads in IE every once in a while if you leave it running but other than that it gives you access to all the ill-gotten gain out there.
Bleh!
I called him to ask what the fsck his executable was running on my machine for and how it got there. He denied it did any spying and said it only worked when you were on the ClickTillUWin site. (Basically a complete load of shit.)
If this sort of crap pisses you off too, drop him a line.
Registrant:
Preference Marketing Services
8170 S. Eastern Avenue, Suite 4613
Las Vegas, Nevada 89123
US
Registrar: Dotster (http://www.dotster.com)
Domain Name: MYTRAFFICTRADER.COM
Created on: 15-JUN-01
Expires on: 15-JUN-02
Last Updated on: 27-JUN-01
Administrative Contact:
Calderone, Michael michaelcalderone@hotmail.com
Preference Marketing
8170 S. Eastern Avenue, Suite 4613
Las Vegas, Nevada 89123
US
702-243-8714
702-207-6682
Technical Contact:
Callahan, Heather fred@aafunnypictures.com
Preference Marketing Services
8170 S. Eastern Avenue, Suite 4613
Las Vegas, Nevada 89123
US
208-664-3804
702-207-6682
Domain servers in listed order:
NS.BANNERHOSTS.COM
NS2.BANNERHOSTS.COM
I see you haven't read /. much lately...
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Rather than redefining "is", it seems that our old friend has found a new home at Cydoor Technologies, makers of another KaZaA-transmitted disease, who are now pushing the ClickTilUWin trojan to spyware-friendly companies.
To quote the article:
Robert Regular of Cydoor Technologies Inc., which distributed the ClickTillUWin software to the file-sharing companies, said the program wasn't supposed to collect information until users activated it -- and had an opportunity to be notified and decline if they so choosed.
Regular said he did not believe deception was intended by any of the parties.
I guess some things never change.
Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
Although it hides as the "What's Related" feature, Mozilla does exactly the same thing. Every URL you visit is sent to xslt.alexa.com. Just try it: add "127.0.0.1 xslt.alexa.com" to your /etc/hosts, fire up apache and Mozilla and tail the logfile...
127.0.0.1 - - [06/Jan/2002:10:58:03 +0000] "GET /data?cli=17&dat=nsacdt=t%3D1%26pane%3Dnswr6%26wid %3D4832&url=http://www.google.com HTTP/1.1" 404 276 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:0.9.5) Gecko/20011012" /data?cli=17&dat=nsacdt=t%3D0%26pane%3Dnswr6%26wid %3D4832&url=http://www.google.com/search HTTP/1.1" 404 276 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:0.9.5) Gecko/20011012"
127.0.0.1 - - [06/Jan/2002:10:58:08 +0000] "GET
It was only when my system started slowing down(sluggish games , slow window redraws) that I noticed that it has a loaded a spyware(SaveNow).
.DLLs running in the background and/or intercepting every CPU instruction for whatever reason. What I'm endlessly tracking down and stomping out is ANY unneeded .DLL that is taking CPU cycles. I remove and unstart virus scanners, add-ons. and plug-ins until the system peps up and seems usuable again.
.DLL desparately trying to send off stolen spy data on the last few URLs I went to.
.DLLs to intercept those. I need IE for sites I tolerate where Java is .asp-Java-on-Windows-with-IE. I also dual-boot the PC to Mandrake.
Yeah. The home PC is Pentium II 350. It works fine unless there are a half dozen
I just had I.E. lock-up fairly often- not even the scroll bars worked. I finally figured out that it was just pegging the CPU. Now I I know that it was because I had the damned CyDoor
I don't suppose the programmers hired by these scum put any emphasis on getting the spyware to be effecient code that will behave well. You know they write and test it on a current 1GHz Intel and if it works mostly OK there it goes out to infect the unsuspecting masses.
I'll have a new AMD Athlon desktop system real-soon-now. It's sad that you have to add CPU horsepower just to have a viable system that can defend itself from these scum buckets.
Before you hit reply to tell me to run a real O/S and a real browser, know that I use Opera, Netscape, and Mozilla. I also use those to check on where a bottleneck is. It is good to know that these scumbags don't write
Ever dream you could fly? Get up from the Flight Sim. I Fly
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.