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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."

10 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.
    1. Re:Law AND Economics? by Threni · · Score: 5, Funny

      > When someone who's both a lawyer and an economist says a license is difficult to
      > interpret, I tend to believe them

      Personally I'm not convinced until I'm told it by someone who maintains other people's Perl for a living!

  2. How satisfying to see... by Faust7 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...that the only P2P client I use didn't even need to be reviewed. :)

    (It rhymes with "BitTorrent.")

    --
    The coolest voice ever.
    1. Re:How satisfying to see... by Anita+Coney · · Score: 5, Funny

      God, I'd pay for that!

      --
      If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
  3. Whoda thunk it? by J+Barnes · · Score: 5, Funny

    And here all this time I was thinking my computer is a piece of shit because it's a pentium II 333MHz PC with 64megs of ram running Windows 98...

    but NO...it's the P2P programs!

    --
    :::: the insomniac's digest
  4. Little-Known Spyware EULA Provisions by Cr0w+T.+Trollbot · · Score: 5, Funny
    • User will be required to supply their own vaseline, and will receive neither a kiss nor a call the next morning.
    • User agrees to transmit any virus as required by the Program, including, but not limited to, SoBig, MyDoom, Gator, Realplayer, MS Windows, AIDS, and bubonic plague.
    • User agrees toi call the writer of this program "Big Daddy."
    • All your base are belong to us.
    • Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
    - Crow T. Trollbot
  5. 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?

  6. 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.

  7. What programs were included by bedelman · · Score: 5, Informative

    Robogun,

    Preparing these detailed analyses is surprisingly time-consuming -- lots of license text to read, lots of screenshots to make, lots of measurements and other tests (registry, filesystem, etc.). So at least for this initial run, I had to limit myself to a manageable number of P2P programs. In general I tried to focus on the programs believed to have largest market share -- the programs that would infect the most PCs with unwanted software if such programs in fact contain unwanted software.

    WinMX would be a good candidate for inclusion in a follow-up piece. And there are plenty more too.

    Or perhaps someone else will be so kind as to take over where I've left off!

    Ben

  8. FYI: (was:Little-Known Spyware EULA Provisions) by Lead+Butthead · · Score: 5, Informative

    Bubonic plague is a bacterial infection, not a viral infection.

    --
    ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?