Spyware Analysis of P2P Software

rhizome writes "Benjamin Edelman, a PhD candidate in Economics and a Law student at Harvard, has analyzed the hidden (or not) additions to a user's machine when they install some of the major Windows P2P clients. He analyzes the length and readabilty of their licenses, what is revealed or hidden in the software's installer and includes screenshots for illustration. Clear, concise and eye-opening."

Comments

It's not the spyware, it's the black hat hackers..

[shanen]

I'm not so worried about spyware. At least not the commercial type, since you can figure out their motivations. Actually, I think the best response there is not spyware blockers, but a commercial response. There should be an anti-spyware organization that gives negative publicity to the companies that benefit in any way from spyware, and positive publicity to their competitors. If they're doing it for money, then you hit them in the wallet and they'll wake up.

However, the think that really worries me is the intersection between P2P and black-hat-hacking skills. That's too much power in one place, and we already know that power corrupts. (The only redeeming point is that sometimes the corruption is pretty funny, like the Gannon/Guckert case.)

Re:It's not the spyware, it's the black hat hacker

[AviLazar]

No such thing as bad PR. If we had such an organization, every little company would want to get on that negative list because it would give the double advertisement. In the end, people will rmemeber the company name - not what they did.