Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Maniac on March 19, 2004, 05:55:44 AM

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Maniac on March 19, 2004, 05:55:44 AM

Thats right...

Windows Media Player logs all the movies you play in it and sends it to Microsoft...

Uninstalling today...

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: BUG_EAF322 on March 19, 2004, 06:01:01 AM

horny guys there at microsoft
:)

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: lord dolf vader on March 19, 2004, 06:47:54 AM

horny for your info and privacy.

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Nilsen on March 19, 2004, 07:12:57 AM

dont use it but im not suprised

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: oboe on March 19, 2004, 07:13:20 AM

More info, please.   Got a link to a story?

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Maniac on March 19, 2004, 07:14:58 AM

No link... read about it in a computer mag...

Actually when you install WMP ver 9 the license agreement says that you give Microsoft full access to your harddisk...

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Ghosth on March 19, 2004, 08:00:04 AM

http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/finalbuilds.htm

Scroll down to "Real Alternative"

Looks like realplayer, works BETTER than real player, NO SPYWARE!

No BS take a look for yourself.

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Lizking on March 19, 2004, 09:12:39 AM

Not to worry, chicken little.  Take the tinfoil hat off and educate yourself:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,3995,00.asp

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Pooh21 on March 19, 2004, 09:41:31 AM

lol

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: DoctorYO on March 19, 2004, 10:10:37 AM

all software does this today..   from freaking  quickbooks to media players they all spy on you..

invest (free) in software firewall.. and still use their program and shaft its network capability...

just a suggestion..


DoctorYo

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Lizking on March 19, 2004, 10:20:34 AM

Not only does all software do it, it is a GOOD thing, and a much requested feature.

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Octavius on March 19, 2004, 10:22:27 AM

Ghosth, I use RealAlternative.  Its nice, but I haven't been able to view any .rm from a browser.  Do any plugins exist?

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: SunKing on March 19, 2004, 10:26:47 AM

This is common knowledge. Better hide your pron better from your wives.

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Lizking on March 19, 2004, 10:39:37 AM

If your wife can find, de-compile and recognise the information, that is the least of your worries.

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: DoctorYO on March 19, 2004, 10:42:02 AM

I disagree lizking..  Extreme techs article was biased in respect that they claimed this was a wanted feature..  (who wants data to be sent to some third party, without their knowledge/or obscured in the depths of their user agreement.. Let alone data that is easily deciphered even the biased writer admitted that..)

(btw i skim my user agreements on everything but the average joe does not and agrees his/her rights away.. hence preying on the naive, imo is wrong..)

Really disturbing is the fact that your unique identifier is used when signing up for newsletters giving them the full piece of the pie... (note they claim they errored their user aggreement when Richard Smith busted them)

Now they have ID and a email and it doesn't take a brainiac to dertermine how this could be abused.

Did you know Microsoft Word has metadata also..

Thats how they caught the mellisa virus writer (rightfully so he was a dumb arse.)

My suggestion is dont trust anything that is not open source..  Transparency is the only solution..

Or invest in a control that stops network traffic at the application layer of the OSI model...

Hence a firewall with unique encrypted md5 checksums for each program allowed network access...  Sygate, Tiny etc...


2 cents..


DoctorYo

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Lizking on March 19, 2004, 10:56:26 AM

And when they realized what it was doing, they fixed it so that it no longer connects the two.  It is a requested feature, as well as a very handy one to have.

Don't get me wrong, I do not allow any program to "call home", but the majority of people do not care, favoring the ease and convience of "self-updating", "DB query" and the ability to be recognised upon return to a site.

What is the worst that could happen even if they DO compile a list of all the movies you watch?  They going to send you an email telling you how bad your taste in movies is?

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: FUNKED1 on March 19, 2004, 11:10:49 AM

I blame great shaitan Boosh.

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Nilsen on March 19, 2004, 11:19:31 AM

its the evil George Gates / Bill Bush duo at work...GG/BB :eek:

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: capt. apathy on March 19, 2004, 02:37:47 PM

everyone knows Gates has no ties to the Bush administration.  

he did have ties to the Clinton administration, where he dressed in drag and went by the name Janet Reno (seriusly, am I the only one who has noticed the scary resemblence between the two?)

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Vulcan on March 19, 2004, 02:51:40 PM

Thats what you have a firewall for ya n00bs. Go run pestpatrol on your PC and see how much non-MS spyware you have...

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: vorticon on March 19, 2004, 04:36:22 PM

yes im sure theres a big room deep in microsoft HQ filled with people sitting around going through the 3 million+ movies everyone watches every day...

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: culero on March 19, 2004, 05:17:05 PM

Quote

Originally posted by DoctorYO
I disagree lizking..  Extreme techs article was biased in respect that they claimed this was a wanted feature..  
snip

It is a wanted feature. I'm one of the folks that wants it. Its useful.

I'm satisfied that the intent of the feature as stated is accurate, and with their reaction to the discovery of the inadvertant e-mail and GUID link.

I also don't believe in black helicopters, don't mind cops knowing who I am and what I'm doing, and don't believe Elvis lives.

culero (also doesn't give a **** who knows it if he watches pr0n ;) )

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Torque on March 19, 2004, 05:26:57 PM

I prefer to call them training manuals.:D

Title: Windows Media Player = Spyware!
Post by: Ghosth on March 21, 2004, 09:13:19 AM

Not sure Oct.

You'd have to go plug around the RA site.