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Digsby IM Client Quietly Installs Badware
An anonymous reader writes "IM company Digsby has quietly included malware in an update to their client software that utilizes users' computing power and bandwidth while idle for a quick buck. When questioned, developers at Digsby claim that they have done no wrong and that users should not complain because the client software is 'free.'" The money-making distributed computing software is in addition to six "crapware" apps that users must refuse during installation. The terms of service that no one ever reads does describe the CPU- and bandwidth-robbing moneymaker, and its off switch is located behind the "Support Digsby" menu item.
From the article:
Summary: Stick with Open Source
The only way you are definitely going to avoid greedy software developers exploiting you is to stick with open source, make sure to donate to your favorite open source projects, and stop installing software with bundled crapware.
Did we already forget that Ubuntu also installed such and without consent (and Linux Mint) - here you atleast have the change to disallow installing it.
There has been countless numbers of open source projects that also do this. Just because it's open source it doesn't mean you're safe from such tactics - it just means the source is open. You can check the source and remove those parts, but not many of us do so.
This is actually more the nuisance of free software. If you've paid for your software, you can usually except that they wont fuck you over with that crap. It's more like the price you pay for using free ad supported software, because if they develop it professionally they also have to get the money somewhere.
And also from the article Digsby's response:
Update: Disgsby responds, saying they're pushing out a new build today with more transparency about the research module.
I think this is a great idea. Make it transparent and let all their users know whats going on (Didsby did a great job with this and their alert system is simple enough for anybody to notice). I don't expect a company to just GIVE me software, if they don't want. They have to pay their developers, so they need revenue. I would MUCH rather have my free apps supported by use of my unused processing power than by ads (which I imagine will be harder and harder to pull revenue from in the future).
As long as it's transparent this seems like a good idea.
Steal my band's record! Seriously,
Hey guess what, troll, I wrote some software for the users of a website that allows them to write content offline and there's no way in hell I'm letting them see the source code. It's 100% free with no ads or any way for me to make any money off it. No ways to even donate money to me, UNLIKE MOST OPEN SOURCE SOLUTIONS. So I guess mine's more free and not open source. There really are people out there who write software and give it away for free with no strings attached without any need to release the source. If you don't have a reason to, why do it? If you don't need anyone else to help with it, why put the source code out there for something you yourself wrote? That's just asking someone to steal code.
Since I know someone's going to ask, nobody's seeing my source because:
The website users are a bunch of copyrighted content stealing jackasses so someone would definitely steal the code and recompile it differently
I have hidden code in it to kill switch the software for users I don't like and more hidden code that detects their username from their internet cache and bans them from ever using my software again if they're already on my bad list. Now before you go all "OMG MALWARE" on me, these people are unbelievable. Why would I let people who send me PMs that are just swear word laden rants use my software? Or people that have been caught stealing content from me on the site and haven't gotten banned for it? Or people who purposely rated all my content lower because they're assholes? Or people that threatened to kill me because I'm a moderator and deleted a bunch of their rule-breaking content? So yeah, if I release the code with the hard wired usernames on the banlist, that'd go over real well.
And most importantly, I don't want anyone else working on it. It's relatively simple and I can finish it myself without anyone else's crappy code having to be used. Unlike projects like Open Office, I don't release my finished product until it's perfect and that wouldn't happen if two people are writing code independently from each other for no reason when one person can do it just fine.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
Is in the dictionary next to the meaning of "IS"
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Yes, it does mean that if your program does something evil, someone else is free to modify the code so that it doesn't do that and redistribute it. However that requires that someone who cares notices, and then takes the time to do so. Not always the case. Also, when it comes to installers, you don't need the source. If an app is bundling crapware in the installer, you could very well grab it, and make a new install package that doesn't have the crapware. The only time you need source is if the app itself has crapware functionality in it.
As for an example of OSS bundling crapware, have a look at PDF creator. It's a great free alternative to the Adobe distiller. However, it does try to install the Yahoo toolbar, as so many things do these days. Now the Yahoo toolbar is tame on the crapware scale, but I'd say it still counts, especially since they try to sneak it in with every app they can.
Ok well nothing is stopping me from grabbing the source and making a new distro of PDF creator... But I haven't, and I'm not going to. I just don't care enough. Seems nobody else does either.
So really, OSS isn't going to save you. Ultimately, you just have to use companies that don't do shit like this, and out companies that do. Public pressure (and public knowledge) is the only real way to deal with it.
Then it must be true!
If you truly believe that digsby is evil, then I suggest you set out to create your own IM client with similar features.
When you are finished, come back and tell me that you had no problems finding reliable people who would work for free on your project.
And since no one here has even bothered to check with digsby on this issue, I think it's important to note that they are reaching out to their users to find a "friendlier" solution to make a profit. There is even a poll where you can vote! And guess what - The majority of the current users would prefer the current model! That's right, most people would rather see ads once and have an optional research "feature", than see ads every time they load the program (or pay for an "ad-free" or "pro" version).
All of this uproar is a bunch of BS. They're not doing anything sneaky. They told users about this eight months ago!
Digsby is still a great piece of software. If you actually took time to read about the research module you'd learn a few things: 1. It only runs when your computer is idle, and as a low priority process. 2. It doesn't run on laptops when they're on battery power. 3. It can be disabled quite easily.
From where I stand, the only slight misstep they made was making the button to disable the research module difficult to find. You're getting a very useful tool for free. For the love of FSM, quit bitching about having to decline a few tool bars and turn off a service!