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Naming and Shaming Toxic Web Apps
itwbennett writes "Stanford Law School has released a wiki called WhatApp?, where users can rate all manner of web apps, browsers, mobile platforms, mobile apps, and social network apps on their security, privacy, and openness. Currently, the wiki 'lists some 200+ apps, but most of them have not been reviewed yet. So they need a lot of help,' writes blogger Dan Tynan. 'To review an app you select it from the list, then fill out a 9-question form rating its privacy, security, and openness, ranging from 5 (very private, secure, and open) to 1 (a steaming pile of vulnerabilities and violations).'"
troll
So all I have to do is download some shitty app and rate it, potentially exposing myself to the spyware/malware/security vulnerabilities were looking to avoid? Where do I sign up?
Isn't the whole point of free (as in gratis) web apps to capture and exploit user info? These companies providing them aren't charities.
Caveat Utilitor
This rate-the-app project sounds similar to WOT. It sounds like a good idea to me, since Web of Trust has helped me avoid a lot of spybots and other crap. http://www.mywot.com/
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
The people who are downloading these 'toxic' apps in the first place simply aren't going to visit this site before doing so. Folks who are already aware of the risks won't need a site like this to illustrate them...so who is this for?
I can't sell if you are being serious, or you are tying to parody the stereotype of /. ers.
Mission Accomplished!
!Yours In Ulyanovsk,
!Kilgore Trout
^ Whoever this guy is, I want more of him. Pointless linking, stupidly fake-formal sign-off, awesome name, overcapitalization, and no walls-of-text! This is a troll I can enjoy. Mod Kilgore Trout up!
Your standards are acceptably low. You've qualified for a free Windows upgrade to 'Vista Platinum*'.
* Vista Platinum is not compatible with ponies, omg ponies or ponicorns.
So near and yet so far.
They could have used WhatsAppDoc.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
How is anyone qualified to actually rate a WebApp on its security most of the time??? Certainly not the average user, and I doubt even a security researcher unless they are given access by the developer. Until it's too late, you won't know that the developer set all the server passwords to 'LOL' or is selling your information to criminals....
Entrust Truepass is a real POS.
It's a java applet that some paranoid websites like to use. They claim "zero footprint" which is an outright lie. It only works with a handful of java JREs, and a few web browsers.
The only reason anyone buys it is that it's the only java applet with FIPS 140-1 certification, so if you need to tick that box on your checklist, and you like java, you're stuck with it.
Unfortunately I know Entrust Truepass well since my company's bank, Scotiabank (a major bank in Canada) requires Entrust Truepass for online business banking. Not only that, they require IE 5.5 or IE6 because this crappy java applet doesn't work well with firefox, chrome or safari.
And Entrust Truepass doesn't work with web proxies.
Oooooo eeeeee! WhatApp with that? WhatApp with that?
I've got a better idea. Let me rate the apps without downloading and installing them. I'll be the judge of whether or not they're probably safe to use and free of malware.
I'm betting that most of us here at /. could make some very accurate educated guesses as to whether something should be downloaded and installed without having to risk actually getting infected with malware. In many cases, we could probably do it based on the URL alone.
Just put us in charge. Oh, and give us the power to punish those who would spread malware. We'll get it straightened out in no time.
You are welcome on my lawn.
For this scheme to work, the toxic app host/author has to know and a sense of moral. The very fact these apps exists implies their host/authors either have weaken or non-existent sense of moral, therefor this scheme will never fly.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
A web app is something that runs on a server. Some of the stuff in the summary is web apps, most is not.
You've made a mistake; RockYou Live is in their "penalty box", not RockBox. The two are totally unrelated; RockBox isn't even a webapp, it's an (excellent) open source firmware for portable music players. They don't ask for your personal information at all.
stupidly fake-formal sign-off, awesome name,
Kilgore Trout is the fake sci fi author in Kurt Vonnegut books.
facebook?
I don't see an entry for itself
Those, IMHO, are the two most annoying wastes of time evar. EVAR! Should be rated toxic as such.
1331461 is only semiprime *sigh* Alas - I am just short of 1337.
You down. It was AnotRher folder. 20 so there are people move forward, as one 0f the These early
precisely!
Does it make me odd if I read that last word as pornocore?
Someone write up a warning about the [ProductName], I heard it's a Killer App!
How to play: substitute ProductName for iPad, Android, JooJoo etc
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
Thanks for the great update http://www.bankruptcyattorneyincalifornia.com/
I rated the “WhatApp?” wiki as really crappy and unable to overcome a singular bias towards the opinion of the most powerful entities. ;)
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Thanks for all of the /. feedback. Love it.
So, just to clarify: ratings and reviews are based on a lot of things---technical knowledge, close reads of supporting documentation, etc. We don't let "anyone" review apps. We have 20+ approved experts at this time, some with computer science backgrounds, others with legal knowledge, still others with a background in privacy compliance. That said, we don't want to raise the bar excessively high. If you read a review, you can judge for yourself based on the expert's bio whether you trust them. In addition to expert ratings and reviews, you have news feeds, a wiki, comments, and the opportunity for the developer to claim the app and add notes.
WhatApp.org is trying to improve on the status quote---namely, jack. We have StopBadware.org for really malicious software, plus CNET and others write up apps from time to time from the perspective of security. Sitejabber.com also does a nice job with community review of websites. But I'm not aware of any central repository of information on consumer values like privacy, security, and openness of online and mobile apps. Improving on nothing is our (modest) goal. It's a work in progress, and we really appreciate the many, many people who have signed up to contribute.
PS: One thing we could really use help on is adding apps. Any user can add an app to review. Please consider it.
``OS 10.6 requires 1 gigabyte; no exceptions. But WIN7 runs well on just 1/2 GB. Apple's OS appears *twice* as bloated.''
I gather you are talking about RAM, not diskspace. But would you perchance have any pointers to reducing Windows 7 disk space usage? It irks me that an OS I rarely use sits there eating up > 10 GB of disk space, but I lack the knowledge of Windows to do something about it. If I could get the disk space
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.