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Spyware Analysis of P2P Software

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the dark-side-to-the-dark-side dept.

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."

9 of 200 comments (clear)

  1. Law AND Economics? by Onimaru · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When someone who's both a lawyer and an economist says a license is difficult to interpret, I tend to believe them. Even his assertion that these licenses are obfuscated is, itself, obfuscated.

    --
    adam b.
  2. None of the Open Source ones checked? by cybrthng · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It would be interesting to compare against the popular Open Soure ports to see if they're any less invasive by nature.

    What about Shareaza?

    1. Re:None of the Open Source ones checked? by happymedium · · Score: 2, Interesting

      iMesh and Kazaa use the FastTrack network, a propietary technology developed by a Swedish company. They need to pay this company licensing fees to use the network, which is probably why no exact open-source, adware-free equivalents exist... unless you count the hacked "light" versions of these two that have the adware removed but can still access FastTrack.

      More about FastTrack here

  3. List is far from complete. by robogun · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For instance, WinMX doesn't install anything but the p2p program. Where is it on this list?

  4. Very true... by Robotron23 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A couple of years back, I serviced a friends computer which was literally deluged with adware and spyware from KaZaA (KaZaA was at its peak then).

    Around 300 files, mostly registry entries, aswell as Gator were on his computer, combined it all took up roughly 35% of his RAM to run, on his 128mb chip it was difficult to even play civ or counter-strike without extreme slowdown...

    Is it just me, or did KaZaA seem the scourge of commercialism when it first started? Heck, since then its become a veritable beacon of it.

  5. Lawyer, economist, and paid shill? by halivar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    He says at the bottom that much of the research was paid for by LimeWire. I was wondering throughout the article why he was givng LimeWire such a clean bill of health, when my experience has not been so good.

    The disclosure does say something for his integrity, but I fear his appraisal may be somewhat biased (intentional or not) in favor of LimeWire.

    1. Re:Lawyer, economist, and paid shill? by Audacious · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I have to say that I think there should be an Open Source set up for independent reviews of things. Sort of like Consumer Reports (versus Consumer Review which was started by the major corporations to try to thwart Consumer Reports' highly accurate ratings). If done correctly, and an unbiased basis can be maintained, it might take off just like many of the software projects have done. Further, it could be used to show the actual state of where Open Source products are versus Closed Source products. In fact, Consumer Reports would be the place to do this since they are fairly independent and back up all of their statements with lots of test data.

      So if anyone from any of the major OSS companies is listening - you might want to help fund the testing of the various OSs via Consumer Reports as well as some of the Open Source Software (OSS) itself versus the Closed Source Software (CSS) versions. Like Open Office versus MS-Office and the like.

      Just a thought.

      --
      Someone put a black hole in my pocket and now I'm broke. :-)
    2. Re:Lawyer, economist, and paid shill? by starfishsystems · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I have a lot of respect for Consumer Reports. We used to have a subscription to it when I was growing up, and I always found it objective, scientific, and informative.

      Where CR doesn't distinguish itself is in technical evaluations, software in particular. I could wish for more rigor when it takes on projects like these.

      Historically, the rolloff makes a fair amount of sense, as CR writes for a general rather than technical audience. And, as I often argue, you can't understand computing infrastructure as if it were a kind of appliance. Appliances are finite. Infrastructure exists for its potential.

      But as our daily lives become increasingly involved with technology, I often wish that CR could use its leadership and methodology to inform the technology marketplace as well.

      --
      Parity: What to do when the weekend comes.
  6. OSS piracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    One thing threatening Open Source today--piracy.

    As we have already seen, the GPL is under attack from evil forces known as "pirates." These shadowy folk silently steal source code and violate the GPL, infringing on the rights of GPL authors. They are nothing more than thieves getting a free ride off the work of others, and I for one am disgusted at the idea of it. As you can see in the previous article, clearly Slashdot is also sickened by the idea of copyright infringement and piracy.

    Some have even called for a lawsuit against these pirate thieves. Suing individual infringers has always been a position that Slashdot and its readership has supported, so it's only fair that the original GPL authors protect their rights and safeguard their material from being stolen in the future. I think we should all support any lawsuits against these infringers to protect the rights of GPL authors everywhere.

    I appluad Slashdot and its readers for always taking a proactive stance against piracy and copyright infringement in general, and I would like to join the cause against this "source code theft." Piracy is a major threat facing OSS today.