Slashdot Mirror
Why Does Skype Read the BIOS?
pfp writes "Myria at pagetable.com, among others, noticed that Skype reads the machine's BIOS code on startup. This probably would've gone unnoticed if the operation didn't fail on 64-bit windows. From the post: 'It's dumping your system BIOS, which usually includes your motherboard's serial number, and pipes it to the Skype application. I have no idea what they're using it for, or whether they send anything to their servers, but I bet whatever they're doing is no good given their track record... If they hadn't been ignorant of Win64's lack of NTVDM, nobody would've noticed this happening.'"
nothing to see here. move along.
we are not spying on you. we swear.
oh btw.. your wife is cheating on you.
Thanks for pointing that out. Looks like I may have to get rid of skype, as useful as it may be sometimes.
If I have seen further it is by stealing the Intellectual Property of giants.
That's even worse!
This comment is guaranteed*
*not guaranteed
Yeah, I'm shaking in my shoes thinking that eBay might steal my identity and sell my files to the government because their software might theoretically be able to read my bus speed and AGP window size.
Yeah, and those bastards, requiring some sort of unique number to identify people using a telephone! Who ever heard of such trickery!
How we know is more important than what we know.
Wait, I know the answer to this one!!
Because it was stapled to the punk rocker's face!!!1
Because it's bored and can't find a good book.
... and then they built the supercollider.
... ...
To know what's written there.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
Asterisk is very easy to set up. You just have to be good at setting Asterisk up. The way to get good at setting Asterisk up is to set Asterisk up. For your first assignment, use just two hardware SIP phones. Once you have got them talking to each other, then you can think about adding more phones and things like POTS gateways.
Within weeks you'll be writing advanced dial plans to do things like ring all the phones in a department or divert calls to your mobile if you haven't picked up in twelve rings, and you'll have DHCP and TFTP set up so each phone on the network can configure itself at switch-on. Then it'll all be working exactly how you want it to, with nothing for you to do except occasionally unplug and replug a misbehaving telephone.
About a year or eighteen months later, you will want to add a simple new feature. Unfortunately, by this time you will have forgotten altogether how you set everything up in the first place.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
I will only eat in restaurants that have a double door to the kitchen and a rabid security guard preventing entry. Everyone knows that the best kitchens never allow you to see what goes on inside. That is un-hygienic.
Neither do I ever check under the hood of my car. My wife insisted on that, she assured me she made sure the brakes work just fine afer she adjusted them with the box-cutter. So that is alright and she waved me goodbye so nicely, together with the poolboy, as I drove away for a week trip across the mountains.
Checking the work of a software company? Pah, next thing you will be insisting that the bible is translated into your native tongue so you can read it for yourselve and not have to rely on your religious leader to tell you what is inside it. INFIDEL!
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Can someone tell me how can I check if its doing the same on my Macbook?
There's really no need. Macs are secure by default even when running Windows.
In the unlikely event that a rogue piece of software does manage to send out some of your personal info, an electronic version of Steve Jobs will shoot down the wire after it and destroy the packets before they reach their destination. Probably using one of those frisbees out of Tron.
Joke ---->
O
-+-
| <- You
/ \
Goddammit ! It is FREE so what do you care ? Ebay has to make some money back somehow ! So it sells some of your personal details . So what ? It's FREE !
How did you know he lived in France?
265mb of RAM, eh? Where'd you get the 9mb stick?
Informatus Technologicus
Yeah, I'm shaking in my shoes thinking that eBay might steal my identity and sell my files to the government because their software might theoretically be able to read my bus speed and AGP window size.
A++++++ A PLEASURE TO BE SPIED ON! WOULD HAVE PERSONAL INFORMATION STOLEN AGAIN!
Dear Mr. Simpson,
Thank you for inquiring about Skype service. Please let me be you informed about our respect for the privacy of you. Skype wants only good things for the customers of Skype and only uses information for good things, not bad things.
Sincerely,
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
Skype. Take a deep breath.
P.S.
Now that you have a deep breath taken, you should really see a doctor about that rash and ask your daughter about where she's *really* going this weekend (hint: it's not the Tijihuana Bible Camp). And whatever you do, don't ever come home early on a Wednesday unless you want a nasty surprise. That's the day the missus "gets the carpet cleaned."
How does a 7-person democracy cut a pie? Into 4 pieces.
I KNEW that bitch was using an aimbot!
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
So... You work for Microsoft?
If you disagree with me on social issues, then it's pretty clear that you are a narrow-minded bigot.