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Norton Users Worried By PIFTS.exe, Stonewalling By Symantec
An anonymous reader writes that "[Monday] evening, on systems with Norton Internet Protection running, users began to see a popup warning about an executable named PIFTS.exe trying to access the internet. The file was shown to be located in a non-existent folder inside the Symantec LiveUpdate folder. There were several posts about this to the Norton customer forums asking for help or information on this mysterious program. The initial thread received several thousand views and several pages of replies in a few short hours before being deleted. Several subsequent posts to the Norton forum were deleted much more quickly. These actions — whether actively covering up, or simply not well thought through — have spurred people to begin crafting conspiracy theories about the purposes of this PIFTS program. I for one am blocking the program until more information becomes available." The current top link on Google for "PIFTS.exe" links to one of these deleted questions on Norton's support boards, which sounds innocent enough: "I searched this forum but did not see PIFTS.exe. Any idea what this is?"
inside info from a friend that works there-
this is a backdoor that Symantec was forced to put in, similar to CIPAV. It is to be used by law enforcement and they are under court order not to reveal its existence. rootkit revealer will show you the entire directory.
It's a clue for you to stop using a platform where you must run anti-virus software and to finally switch to something better and come to the 21 century of computing.
As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
Why are you a cock smoking teabagger? Just admit it. I saw you tacosnotting with CmdrTaco.
Thank you for not adding to the conversation with your unhelpful fanboy post about AVG. Go diddle yourself with it.
Oh, I forgot - like nearly all virus warnings, this one only applies to the M$ architecture. My bad! :^)
...but goddam it, it wouldn't run under Ubuntu. I'm not sure if it's an nVidia driver problem or a an acpi issue on my laptop.
BTW if anyone can help me to get norton to run on x86-64 that would be great too.
ws
So does Anonymous Coward have good karma?
TFA doesn't say to sudo make install anything.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
Yes. Freedom to express your opinion is innate human quality, and if Norton does not recognize that right within their organization or website, then they are no better than the North Korean government. The world has no room for censoring tyrants, whether they are governments or corporations.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
And if it is a businesses right to delete comments they want deleted, as they stated in the terms that all posters agree to, it isn't censorship either. If I go onto a Disney children's forum and post nothing but swear words, and Disney deletes it, is that censorship too?
"But this one goes to 11!"
>>>Private businesses have the right to conduct their own business however they see fit.
Of course.
And I have the right to label them "tyrants" because that's what CEOs/management who support censorship are. It is the proper term for those who would silence the voice of the people.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Or more likely: Push legislators to adopt the "three strike rule" where they kick you off your ISP with false claim that you downloaded Norton Utilities. "Our sales have fallen; it's not our fault; it's the pirates!"
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
>>>Norton isn't not keeping you from critiquing them anywhere else.
I agree.
Now let's play "what if": What if Norton is a subsidiary of the General Electric Group, which controls NBC, MSNBC, the Weather Channel, USA, TNT, SciFi, and who knows how many other websites, newspapers, and media outlets (like Verizon) such that, no matter where you go, GE will remove your anti-norton posts? Do you still maintain that a corporation, with that much over-arching power, can not censor information?
Game over. Just wanted to give you something to ponder.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
He was discussing Obama voters. ;-)
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall