|
PureBytes Links
Trading Reference Links
|
On Friday, November 30, 2001, 1:19:31 PM, Samuel K. Tennis wrote:
SKT> BUT according to Eudora, they absolutely do NOT use the spyware
SKT> software.
In at least one instance, when confronted with a log showing the
transfer of info, a company said "We don't use spyware, we use
adware." Watch out for a play on words.
I did a quick check on this issue. I DON'T use Eudora, so I have not
looked at it in depth.
A few points from the quick search: it does generate a unique ID that
is tied to your profile, which you are *required* to fill out. This ID
is sent with your data, so the two can be tied together easily, even
though "we don't send personally identifying info with the data" is
strictly true. Watch out for clever legalese. :-) When this was
pointed out, Eudora was silent on the issue.
Eudora DOES continue to 'call home' and send info in the paid version.
Also, watch out for the "third party" trick. Most privacy statements
say "**WE** don't do this", but later on there is something like "we
are not responsible for what third parties do". They are just passing
the buck. Be careful, 'cause the third party *will* do it - it's their
business to do it. :-) I had a long discussion of this with Opera.
They were quite up-front about what they do and who does what. I was
satisfied with the result. Opera adware is just about the cleanest,
least intrusive adware I have seen, and you can easily check
*everything* they do. They even offered to help me check it out if I
didn't know how.
Some spyware is now in a form that can be placed in the source code,
so no extra files, dlls, etc are available for anti-spyware programs
to find. This is part of the ongoing battle re spyware. It is getting
ever more sneaky.
Based on this *quick* look, I'd be inclined to look into this before I
would use Eudora. It is not nearly as clear as with Opera, and they
seem much more evasive in the several emails I reviewed.
Check it out...
ztrader
|