This isn’t really mundane but then, it isn’t really news that the sky if falling, either.
It’s FYI and FWIW. The source is shown
The File Download Utilities from Real Networks,
Netscape/AOL, and NetZip *ARE* Spying On Us!
From Steve Gibson:
I have created two resources for you to use for follow up:
- A comprehensive new page on my web site which discusses this threat at greater length and shows the detailed contents of a “spyware packet” as it was leaving a test machine of mine:
http://grc.com/downloaders.htm
- <deleted>
The SERIOUS New Spyware Threat …
NetZip’s “Download Demon” was purchased by Real Networks and renamed “Real Download”. then Netscape/AOL licensed it from Real and called it “Netscape Smart Download.”
By watching the “packet traffic” flowing out of one of my
machines while downloading a file through the Internet, I
verified the rumors which you may have heard regarding these
programs: All of these programs immediately tag your computer with a unique ID, after which EVERY SINGLE FILE you download from ANYWHERE on the Internet (even places that might not be anyone else’s business) is immediately reported back to the program’s source, along with your machine’s unique ID and its unique Internet IP address.
This information allows them to compile and create
a detailed “profile” about who you are based upon the
web sites you visit and the files you have downloaded.
Perhaps you don’t mind being watched and tracked as you move
around the Internet … and having every file you download
reported along with your unique ID and IP address. But the
idea of this being done WIHTOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE, seems invasive to me in the extreme. And even if you carefully read the program’s license, you might not be aware that this is going on or that “you agreed to it” when you accepted their terms!
More than 14 Million people are already using the original
NetZip Download Demon. NetZip knows the exact number, since
every copy of their program “phones home” to report on what
their users are doing! And I’m sure people are downloading Real Network’s ReadDownload and Netscape’s SmartDownload like crazy.
A Class Action lawsuit was recently filed against Netscape/AOL because of this privacy invasion, so perhaps the PC industry will begin to receive the message that this sort of secret spying and profiling is not okay with the rest of us, even if it is buried within a lengthy license agreement. You decide.