Slashdot Mirror
Latest Adobe Acrobat Reader Update Silently Installs Chrome Extension (bleepingcomputer.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The latest Adobe Acrobat Reader security update (15.023.20053), besides delivering security updates, also secretly installs the Adobe Acrobat extension in the user's Chrome browser. There is no mention of this "special package" on Acrobat's changelog, and surprise-surprise, the extension comes with anonymous data collection turned on by default. Bleeping Computer reports: "This extension allows users to save any web page they're on as a PDF file and share it or download it to disk. The extension is also Windows-only, meaning Mac and Linux Chrome users will not receive it. The extension requests the following permissions: Read and change all your data on the websites you visit; Manage your downloads; Communicate with cooperating native applications. According to Adobe, extension users 'share information with Adobe about how [they] use the application. The information is anonymous and will help us improve product quality and features,' Adobe also says. 'Since no personally identifiable information is collected, the anonymous data will not be meaningful to anyone outside of Adobe.'"
>This extension allows users to save any web page they're on as a PDF file and share it or download it to disk
I'm pretty sure chrome does that all by itself
I don't use Adobe anymore, PERIOD.
The extension is also Windows-only, meaning Mac and Linux Chrome users will not receive it.
Why are Mac and Linux users treated better than Windows users? That's not fair!
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
they've gotten pretty good at detecting and preventing these kinds of drive by installs.
After gaining a large amount of market share by BEING a drive-by install (as part of java, IIRC), they ought to be good at detecting them.
Thank you for your input, Herr Drumpf.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Chrome may be smart, but the users may not be. A whole lot of people will just click "Yes" or "Enable" or whatever the dialog says.
Chrome also offers pretty good native PDF support, so why even bother having more software installed.
Indeed. Given that Chrome itself is often installed surreptitiously along with popular applications like CCleaner and Avast, it's no wonder that Adobe thought that Chrome users wouldn't mind, or notice, yet another clandestine install.
Now that I'm thinking about it, Chrome has come bundled with Adobe products as well! That's right, Adobe secretly installs the browser, and tries to set it as default. They've already gone that far, so what's the big deal about sliding along an extension?
Required reading for internet skeptics
Can we have some perspective here? We're talking about Chrome people. Google. The masters of collecting data. If you use Chrome your data is no longer your own already. So what are you complaining about?
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
I never really understood this line of thinking, that if one is living an uninteresting, unimportant life they shouldn't care if they're being spayed upon? Privacy is only for people of interest. Everyone else is fair game? I thought it was the famous people who were exempt from having private lives. Personally I think that even if all you do is go home to an empty house and stare at the walls all day you should still do it without, frankly high-tech peeping toms. Buy you should be free to choose whatever you want.