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Post by CFF on Jun 26, 2003 15:32:15 GMT -5
I'm not going to lecture anyone on downloading, but perhaps if I share some information with you on the DARK SIDE OF KaZaA, you might think twice (and even remove it from your computer). ... from www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/14/1050172507212.html The slippery world of spywareDallas, Texas April 14 2003 When Roger Olney used the KaZaA file-sharing service to download a utility for his home computer, he got a rude introduction to the slippery world of spyware. First, he mistakenly downloaded and installed a file called eblaster.exe. "I am aware now after some research that eblaster is a program that monitors keystrokes (gulp) in super stealth mode (shiver, double gulp)," Olney told members of the discussion group alt.privacy.spyware, where he turned for emergency help. But, as group members would later inform him, the KaZaA Media Desktop program itself was already monitoring much of Olney's activity. Unbeknownst to most users, Sharman Networks Ltd's KaZaA - the world's most popular post-Napster file-sharing program - has built-in software that spies on its users. KaZaA is partnered with Brilliant Digital, which makes software that is downloaded and invisibly installed with KaZaA Media Desktop. Also, Brilliant's software automatically hooks users into yet another network, Altnet, which can track behaviour as well as store and retrieve targeted banner ads and pop-ups. It even seeks to profit from siphoning off processing power from its customers' computers. Last year, the revelation that Brilliant's software had been piggybacking on KaZaA led to some consumer backlash. Technically, the Altnet program could be called adware, tracking software that users agree to download as part of the End User Licence Agreements. But EULAs are so filled with legal jargon that they're largely unread. Many KaZaA users protested that Brilliant's tactics qualify it as spyware, software that monitors users without asking permission. The EULA language is 5000 words long and almost incoherent, they argue. One programmer even developed KaZaA Lite, which is KaZaA without Altnet. Still, more than 60 million users worldwide have installed the KaZaA Media Desktop. Most are unaware that their machines can track their behaviour and hook into Altnet. "The masses are being victimised all the time," says Grey McKenzie, CEO of SpyCop Inc, makers of a program that detects spy- and adware. "I think you now have to protect yourself against these programs, just like you scan for viruses." Spyware and adware are being increasingly used by programmers to make money. When McKenzie started his company three years ago, for example, SpyCop's database recognised only about 30 commercially available spyware programs - mostly monitoring software used by spouses, parents and corporations. After expanding SpyCop's reach to include adware, McKenzie's database encompasses more than 350 monitoring programs. "It's a huge industry now," McKenzie saID. "Let's face it. There's big bucks in getting people's attention, and people willingly partake of these programs. Then suddenly they notice they're getting pop-ups all over their computers when they visit certain Web sites." McKenzie's company sells SpyCop for $US49.95 ($A82), but free adware/spyware scanners are also available. They include Ad-Aware by Lavasoft, which last year won PC World Magazine's top award for software. Ad-Aware has become an indispensable tool for many savvy computer repairers. Increasingly, users are complaining about problems directly attributable to adware and spyware. Lee Pyles, owner of Compyles Computers in Rowlett, Texas, says it has become commonplace to find dozens of monitoring software installations on machines he repairs. Often, these programs run in the background, invisibly sapping processing power. "I had one the other day that had more than 125 executable files that Ad-Aware found," Pyles said. "It was running like a dog. No sooner had I removed all that stuff and it was like I'd released the emergency brake on a car. It just came back to life." Some monitoring software programs are almost impossible to uninstall. They may contain fake uninstallation components that trick users into reinstalling, rather than deleting them. "Other times, you'll try to uninstall and they'll want you to take a survey, or they ask you, 'Why are you leaving?"' said Pyles. "Others will try and take you to their Web site. And they'll never completely clean out the directories they create. You've got to do that manually." Much of the modern adware and spyware programming is poor quality, says McKenzie. "It messes up your computer big time, and who's to know?" he said. "If people realise that this kind of stuff is going on, maybe something will happen." Perhaps popular spots such as Download.com will some day become spy- and adware free zones, he says. But until consumers encounter widespread identity theft or machinery problems, McKenzie holds little hope for reform. "You've got an epidemic here," McKenzie said. "This kind of programming gives an eight-year-old the ability to become a seasoned hacker. And that's just scary." Note from CFF: Another excellent piece of Spyware Software is called SPYBOT - Search & DestroyCFF
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Post by DeadCat on Jun 26, 2003 15:37:01 GMT -5
Srrh, Only 21 South Park, I am most disappointed as I have the whole series up to and including #707 – Red Mans Greed…. (only 225kbps stuff but still funny as hell). And as far as I see it, they were all broadcasted publicly, just not in my area so I have no problem in obtaining them, viewing them once and then deleting them… As for music, hell, I’ve lost more original CD’s than I’ve downloaded off the Internet. (DeadCat) Enjoying 2Mbit uncapped downloads in Germany….
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Post by Srrh on Jun 26, 2003 15:42:29 GMT -5
DON'T USE KAZAA
Use Kazaa-lite: no spyware and you are permanantly locked at 1000 up-loads, thus making you a K-lite master and allowing you to cut trhough virtually any remotly queued line.
WinMX and Edonkey are also pretty good...
PS Broadband is a MUST.
S.
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Post by Ruby2 on Jun 26, 2003 16:01:05 GMT -5
Yes, I also may or may not be a K-lite master, and I also may or may not use winmx!
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Post by Srrh on Jun 26, 2003 16:06:28 GMT -5
Yes, I also may or may not be a K-lite master, and I also may or may not use winmx! So may I. Or not.... How would you like WimMX, if you used it? Would you like it better then K-lite? It's all hypothetical, of course... BTW: If you look for Senna vids on Kazaa and you see Srrh...it's probably another one...hmmm. S.
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Post by Ruby2 on Jun 26, 2003 16:12:40 GMT -5
Yes of course, I wouldn't for one minute think it was you I think that I would like winmx a fair bit, but would find that it doesn't always have what I require, and that Kazaa-lite would usually be able to supply demand. Also, I understand that winmx users are quite choosy at times, and won't always let people d/load from them.
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Post by Srrh on Jun 26, 2003 17:37:58 GMT -5
Also, I understand that winmx users are quite choosy at times, and won't always let people d/load from them. If I used Kazaa, Yesterday I would have kicked out a person who logged onto my PC with the pseudo FuckWimpyFrance@Kazaa. But If I had Kazaa, I'd let it run 24/7 on network, so many people would actually log onto me and I couldn't see them, so I would only be choosing when in front of the PC screen. It must be the same on WinMX...that would be my theory...if I had it... errr, I just re-read that and...well, good luck... No seriously though...some good racing stuff...1/10 The other 9/10 are crashes... but in the 1/10 I found some way cool stuff...Laps on boards at Suzuka with senna, tributes, great passes...I've got some very nice f1 racing...looks like fiction compare to the parade we see any given sunday these days... Dead Cat: Have you seen Canibal the Musical ? It is by the creators of south park...It's very hmmm...tasty ? S.
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Post by Henrik on Jun 27, 2003 2:21:15 GMT -5
Interesting thread this!
I have to say that if we go under the assumption that I might download stuff, then it would be with K-Lite for sure. I may possibly have had some bad experience in the past with the regular KazAa otherwise...
Also, Ad-Aware is a must, and I was actually about to try Spybot.
Now, my take on the music download is a bit mixed. First of all, I think the MP3 media is a great thing. Since I doscovered it a number of years back, I have had all my music converted and saved on my PC, making it my primary source for listening. Also, I transferred all of it to an MP3 jukebox that I have in the bathroom. Cool! Anyway, in my baby days of MP3, I really enjoyed checking out unknown artists who would probably have a real hard time getting a record deal. MP3.com has been good for this, and that is all legal stuff. It has become a tool for budding musicians that did not exist before. An example would be Emily Richards, an artist I discovered this way that I would not have had a chance in the world to hear pre-MP3.
Next usage has been to download stuff that I have heard on the radio. Often you hear something that sounds good, but you miss half of it, or you don't know who the artist is etc. Here I think downloading is great. Gives me a chance to properly listen to the song, and possibly get some other stuff by the same artist. If I really like the stuff I will buy the CD.
Something that seriously pisses me off these days though is the anti-pirating coding some are putting on their CD's. As an example, I bought Toto's new album a while back, and wanted to rip it to my PC as that is what I listen to my music on. Nothing illegal about that since I bought the CD, and I had no intention of sharing it with others. Well half the songs could not be ripped because of some coding. So, I pay too much for a CD, and then I can't even listen to it as I want to! Stuff like that makes me really not feel bad about downloading...
On the movie side, it seems to me that much of the movies that are out there (I suppose usually in DivX) are really poor quality.
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Post by CFF on Jun 27, 2003 8:37:11 GMT -5
Also, Ad-Aware is a must, and I was actually about to try Spybot. From almost day one, Ad-aware has been the defacto standard in spyware removal software. I've used it for nearly 3 years, and have been quite satisifed. A couple of weeks back, I was reading a comparison test in a PC magazine that also recommended Spy-bot. In fact, they suggested that Ad-aware & Spy-both both were "Readers Choice", then suggested that consumers use both of them, as they had found that each only did about 95% of a job cleaning up ones computer. Hence I downloaded / installed / ran Spy-bot (http://security.kolla.de/index.php?lang=en&page=download), and I'm a convert! As a long time Ad-aware user, all I can say is Spy-bot rocks! IMHO, it's far more thorough than Ad-aware. Don't take my word for it though - try it! CFF
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Post by Srrh on Jun 27, 2003 8:51:50 GMT -5
On the movie side, it seems to me that much of the movies that are out there (I suppose usually in DivX) are really poor quality. It depends... You have the "in theater camera"...which is the use of a vid. camera in a movie theatre...that's usually pretty poor. Then you have direct rips of Screeners. Screeners are the DVD video clubs receive, month in advance of everyone, in order to decide how many copies they will order. My copy of Bowling for Cumlombine is a Screener and I dare anyone to make the diff. between it and a full DVD. The same apply for TV shows that were riped through a "PC to TV card" (South park, six feet under, ali g) and the quality is pretty good. These days I am downloading J-C Van damme interviews...the guy is really...aware... too funny
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Post by Srrh on Jun 27, 2003 9:08:07 GMT -5
Nick Thatcher:
Hello and welcome to this BBC News interactive forum, I'm Nick Thatcher. The US record industry is set to take legal action against hundreds of individuals who swap music over the internet. From today, the Recording Industry Association of America says it will gather evidence against users of so-called "peer-to-peer" software and file lawsuits against them. But will such action work? You've been sending in your questions and joining me to help answer them is Allen Dixon, he's the executive director of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
Mr Dixon welcome, we've had questions from all round the world this morning to put to you, so let's get underway straightaway. One from Nick Stutley from here in the UK, he says quite simply and bluntly: "Do you expect anyone to take these threats seriously?"
Allen Dixon: Well I guess what's happened so far has been very worrying and very damaging for everybody involved in making music. In the last year probably the number of people on these file sharing services has doubled and I think so far people have thought that the record industry, the music industry, wasn't going to do anything about it. And the problem has got to the place in the United States I think where certainly our US group, the RIAA, has decided that we've given enough warnings, we've provided enough education and we need to take some legal action to get the message out that this is not right.
Nick Thatcher: Is this message going out to the individual who may download or share some music from the internet or to those that are continually and persistently doing this?
Allen Dixon: Well the announcement was that people that are uploading, basically distributing substantial numbers of illegal copies of music, are the first on the list that will be looked for. Unlike the old days, I guess, where we had sort of one or two copy home taping type of arrangement, today when somebody goes on a peer-to-peer system and starts distributing music there are probably five million people at any one time that can download and make a copy. So we're talking really about substantial numbers of distribution and those are the people that initially will be looked at.
Nick Thatcher: Jim Elder e-mailed us with a question, he's in the United Kingdom: "Can the record companies really afford the legal bill for this? If you serve writs on thousands of people and then lose the first case?"
Allen Dixon: Well the law's very clear on this and in the UK and the US and most countries that have copyright it's not any different putting something on the internet and distributing it to hundreds or thousands of people than pressing a CD and shipping that out of a factory, if that's a counterfeit in either case the copyright will say that that's not legal.
Nick Thatcher: One question here sort of sums up what I think many people will be thinking at home, which is: "How will you actually achieve these goals if the very people you're targeting tend to be those 12-16 year old children who are copying music from the internet?" That's from John in the UK. Another John from Scotland says: "Is downloading any different from taping songs from the radio or copying your friends' collection?"
Allen Dixon: Well that's a couple of different questions. I think who gets sued in this process has not been determined. The evidence has started to be collected and on the basis of what's found and the level and the problems that people are causing those people will be targeted. So we're not announcing any particular type of user at this point.
Nick Thatcher: As a result of that - the second question?
Allen Dixon: Remind me.
Nick Thatcher: Is there any difference - this is another John sorry - is it any different from taping the songs from the radio?
Allen Dixon: Well yes actually, it's more like pressing CDs and selling them on the street. This is bulk activity, this is people that are making hundreds of copies of different CDs available, this is people that are distributing potentially to half a billion people worldwide on the internet. This is a major international distribution problem, it's not taping something off the radio.
Nick Thatcher: Now we've had a number of questions on this very next point. Donald from Scotland: "Shouldn't the music industry be looking at ways to entice people to buy more music from the shops instead of blaming the end user?"
Allen Dixon: I could say two things about that. I mean one, at the moment the consumer has never had it so good for what he can buy in the shop. There was a study today actually put out by the BPI here in the UK that CD prices year on year from last year even are down three and a half per cent - it's £9 and a bit on average to buy a CD in the UK. So as far as the pricing and the offers that are available in the shops there are bargains to be had. On the internet there are now 25 legitimate online services available in Europe alone, each of them offering at least 250,000 different tracks that you can download, you can burn on to your CD, you can listen to it. So there's an awful lot of legitimate material out there and we're clearly and excitedly trying to encourage consumers to find out and use it.
Nick Thatcher: Of course CD prices vary around the world, you've mentioned prices here in the United Kingdom but another e-mail we've got here, again someone not leaving their name from England: "Why are we charged so much for music? It's no wonder people resort to downloading music when the price of a CD single is £3.99. Make the price more realistic, people expect a lot more for their money these days."
Allen Dixon: The price of CDs is something that's determined in the market, so if people aren't buying CDs obviously the retailers and the people involved in the business adjust that. So hence you see such great deals at the record shops as you see at the moment. You know the truth is the downloading has nothing to do with that, downloading and certainly distributing and putting material on the internet is in a way like shoplifting and that is you're never going to entice people to buy music in a shop that are going to shoplift it and that's what we're trying to stop.
Nick Thatcher: Well we've got a live e-mail coming in from Matthew who's in the United Kingdom: "Is it not the case that the record industry has been overtaken by technology and in doing so is becoming obsolete and redundant?"
Allen Dixon: Well it's absolutely clear we're in the middle of a technology revolution but it's one that certainly the record industry is embracing and really trying to take advantage of. I mean if you look at these new services and actually IFPI, the organisation I work for, has put up a website to educate people about these new services called pro-music.org and our website lists lots of different services that you can go to and do things you could never do before legitimately - you can download, stream, you can burn CDs, you can make compilations of a sort that you'd never have been able to afford all the different CDs you'd have to buy. So I think it's fair to say we're actually embracing that technology and just as fast as we can trying to encourage people to use that. The problem of course is that nobody's going to buy those services if somebody who's not paying the artist, who's not legitimately putting music on the internet is making it available for free.
Nick Thatcher: Another live e-mail that's arrived, Ivan Kofi [phon.] from the United Kingdom, he says: "While file swapping for free is rightly illegal why has the recording industry taken so long to take the obvious steps against it - complete?"
Allen Dixon: I guess the question is we got accused of doing the wrong thing when we took action against the services that were kind of building their music on the back of our artists and other people's creativity. Obviously we're not immune to criticism for taking action against users. I think the truth is though we have a duty to the people, not just the people who are successful stars but people who are coming up without a record deal, that because of the huge amounts of cash that are flowing out of this industry from piracy are not able to get a deal. I mean if you look at record companies they're laying off people, retail shops are laying off people in the music business, artists are not getting new contracts, artists rosters are being cut and we feel that at least at this point we've educated people, people know it's illegal, we've given fair warning and at least in the US the feeling is we need to take this legal step at this time.
Nick Thatcher: You say the industry is somewhat battered but Ted Smith, again another live e-mail, coming from the United Kingdom says: "You can afford to pay Robbie Williams £80 million to sign for it, it's hard to feel sorry for the music people especially when they sell the albums for £14 each." But you do say they can be a lot cheaper than that in certain countries. It is difficult to feel sorry for the music industry when it has that sort of money.
Allen Dixon: Well it sort of misunderstands how the music industry works and that is for every Robbie Williams hit album that comes out there are 10 small artists, maybe newly signed bands, maybe recognised bands that haven't actually made it yet, for every one successful record there are 10 that lose money. And the real question in the record industry right now is do we continue only to back the famous stars, do we continue to invest in clear winners or do we keep trying to encourage young acts to come up? And that's where this hurts.
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Post by Srrh on Jun 27, 2003 9:08:28 GMT -5
Nick Thatcher: One of the questions that's come in from Ray Williams talks about where people can go to buy this sort of material, where they can go and buy the music that they can't find in the shops. Allen Dixon: Well I would strongly encourage you to take a look at the various online services that are available. There's some tremendous ones. I mean Peter Gabriel has done - the supporter of one of the major ones that's launched around Europe but there are, as I say, about 25 of these services now where you can get 250,000 tracks, at a minimum, at any one of those services. Which certainly is more CDs than I have in my physical collection. And I'd encourage people actually to take a look at that. Nick Thatcher: There's another question here, I have to bring this one in, Roscom who's from the United Kingdom, it's linked to this question of not having the music in the shops that perhaps that they want, he says: "The charts are full of reality TV show winners whose music is, ahem," he puts it, "not everyone's cup of tea." Allen Dixon: We are in the middle of this revolution the goal of which is to have absolutely as much back catalogue, absolutely as much as the current hits, absolutely as much different types of music that people enjoy and they have a hard time finding in the shops. The goal is to get as much of that on these legitimate services as we can. So certainly what the record companies and the music industry is working towards is giving you more opportunity and more selection to buy. This is only going to happen through these legitimate services though. And as I say take a look at pro-music.org, our own site which with a number of other industry groups kind of lays out the options and what's developing on that. Nick Thatcher: And connected to that - I think you've very much answered the question - does the music industry have any plans to introduce a legal equivalent of peer-to-peer sharing or any other system for users to get music off the web? There are more and more ways to access music legally through the web you're saying? Allen Dixon: I have to say the technical guys have so many creative ideas for what can be done. I mean I'm certainly not at liberty or privy to all the different models that may be tried. But if you look at the ones on the market right now many of them allow you to stream music - if you're having a party at the weekend you pick your playlist and you stream that out at the time you want. There are many of them let you burn CDs, which again can give you a compilation of the sort you weren't able to make before. And with the new Apple Eye Tune service, for example, that's where you put things on a potable device, carry it around with you, use it on your computer and things like that. So I can't predict how all of these things will emerge but even on the market right now there's quite a bit of exciting things happening. Nick Thatcher: One final question I think probably sums up our discussion this afternoon. It comes from Robert in Scotland, he's putting the point pretty simply again: "Shouldn't record companies concentrate on eliminating black markets such as this by reducing the price of records and not suing us?" Allen Dixon: Well I guess I just repeat and that is this is not a price issue, this is an issue of people becoming mass distributors of somebody else's music on the internet because they can. And certainly the US programme has been not only to litigate, not only to take people to court, to establish that principle and make that clear but we're also very strongly pushing the awareness aspect, getting the message out, of why it's important for people to buy rather than to steal music. And also to help develop and to encourage people to use the legitimate new services which will make sure that the music you like keeps on coming. Nick Thatcher: I know that we were repeating ourselves a little bit there but thank you for making that point again because we are responding to different people writing to us as we're speaking really. And you can tell us, can you, the e-mail address or the web page address where people can discover more about this plan and discover what is right and perhaps what is wrong? Allen Dixon: Well our web address - and this site is actually operated not only by IFPI but record labels but also artists, also the retail associations and also a number of people involved in the process of creating music - and it's www.pro-music.org.
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Post by Topcontender on Jun 27, 2003 9:22:15 GMT -5
I got a few of these type files on my Kazaa-Lite shared folder and i can't delete them. WTF are they!!!!!!! i am getting reall pised off and if this is spyware i m gonna be really really mad. download1052489899220513343.dat
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Post by Henrik on Jun 27, 2003 9:48:21 GMT -5
Umm, TC, those are files in the process of being downloaded, and not yet completed. You can't delete them as they are open for the actually download.
Go to your download screen and check what is pending. If you no longer want them, cancel the download, and then you'll be able to delete the dat file.
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Post by Srrh on Jun 27, 2003 10:30:08 GMT -5
Good guess Henrik.
I would also guess that if you want to know which .dat files are which, you could use the avi.preview tool. It allows one to view a file while it is still dowloading.
Just a guess of course....
S
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