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| PC Privacy | |
| April 2000• Vol.8 Issue 4 | |
Data-Collection Agents How Companies Obtain Information About You & Your PC |
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[REALNETWORKS]
[RICH]
[GRAY]
Every couple of months, the headlines remind us that when it comes to computers, privacy is far from a given. For example, in the summer of 1999, it is reported that the code of Microsoft’s operating systems might have a backdoor that the National Security Agency could exploit. Microsoft denies this, claiming it holds all the keys for the backdoors, including the one it inexplicably called “NSAKEY.” In the fall of 1999, streaming media giant RealNetworks admits that a hidden function of its free RealJukebox player lets it track users’ listening habits. After a public outcry, it admits to an error in judgment, changes its privacy disclaimer, and posts a fix to its Web site. Another privacy story broke in the winter of 1999. According to Comet Systems, 16 million people and 60,000 Web sites were set up to use its customized Comet Cursor technology, which lets sites change users’ cursors into fun shapes. However, it also let Comet Systems track registered users across the Internet with a hidden serial number. Negative consumer reaction led the company to post a patch to its Web site that would delete the serial number. These are all examples of companies that, regardless of their reasoning, have tried to slide one by consumers with the use of stealth features. But what about when we invite companies to look at our systems? A growing number of manufacturers are including spiders, which are also known as bots, with their products. These programs allow the manufacturer to access your computer over the Internet. With this link in place, they can scan or read your system, upload files and information, and even manipulate the registry, applications, and settings on your computer. These products fall into roughly three categories:
(NOTE: All the products listed below do what they do in the name of service to the user, and we chose them purely on the basis of the types of services they provide, not on any inherent proclivity to abuse.)  Awash In Stale
Software? This situation should be a familiar one in this age of multiple-gigabyte hard drives: You have a computer packed with software but neither the time nor the energy to troll the Internet looking for upgrades and updates for it all. It would be much easier to have someone or something do it for you. This first class of products, to varying degrees, does just that. Essentially, these products go into your computer, scan your drives for information, and then compare what you have with a master database of updates and upgrades. The most advanced of them will even download and install updates with a single click of a button. Known to some as maintenance software services, these have become popular timesaving tools. Microsoft’s Product Update area. Not surprisingly, the company with the most upgradeable products on the market has its own online service bay set up to keep your operating system, Web browser, and other Windows goodies up to date. Built on a catalog of fixes, updates, and enhancements, the Product Update section of the Microsoft Web site (http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and click Product Updates) first scans your system to see what you have installed. Then, it recommends a variety of software updates and add-ons you can choose to download. It then automatically installs the products you download. This is a particularly effective way for Microsoft to wheel out what it calls critical updates, which are fixes for bugs that seem to pop up with a certain regularity on your system. |
Even though Microsoft Product Update has to scan your system
to determine what it will place on your updates list, it assures users at
the outset that it doesn’t send any of the information it collects in this
way to Microsoft.
Manageable Software Services’ Catch-Up. The free application Catch-Up, from Manageable Software Services (http://www.manageable.com/), performs a similar function to Microsoft’s Product Update area; the main difference is it’s not limited to Microsoft products. After downloading the software and installing it, you can have Catch-Up scan your system for files. (It keeps a list of your files locally.) The application then gives you the choice of selecting what you want to update before going to its own database to check for relevant software. This feature of letting you choose what information to send out is rather unique in this field; most just compose a list and shoot it off to the server, only letting you pick and choose between updates after the list comes back.
Catch-Up doesn’t maintain personal information profiles about who is using the service, and the application itself works as a helper application with your browser (which means everything is viewed through a Web browser).
Symantec’s Norton Web Services. Symantec takes many of its popular Norton products to the Web with its subscription-based Norton Web Services (http://www.nortonweb.com/). This product straddles the line between updates and system fixes with its combination of LiveUpdate Pro and VitalCheck.
LiveUpdate Pro works like other update software; it scans your system and makes a list of all the software and hardware it detects. It then compares this list to its database, finding fixes, updates, drivers, and patches for a wide range of products. (NOTE: LiveUpdate Pro is different from LiveUpdate, another product from Norton that is used by desktop-based applications, such as Norton Utilities and Norton AntiVirus, to search the company’s site for program and virus updates.)
With VitalCheck, Norton takes its service to the next level: scanning and fixing your system.
Surfing The Virtual
Service Station.
A bit more intrusive are programs that can enter your personal computer, look around, and sometimes even take a cyber-wrench to problem areas. Anyone who has ever run Windows’ ScanDisk or a virus-detection program is familiar with this area. These products poke through your system looking for trouble, and when they find it, they attempt to fix it (or in the case of viruses, stomp them out). Unlike the first group of products, where the potential for abuse is primarily in a loss of information, the stakes increase whenever you are dealing with a product that has the ability to alter your personal computer.
As mentioned, VitalCheck from Norton Web Services is one example of this type of service, dealing with both virus and disk-error (such as damaged boot records and lost clusters) detection and repair. The following is a list of services of this nature:
McAfee Clinic. Trying to corner the one-stop market for online diagnostic tools is McAfee Clinic (http://www.mcafee.com/centers/clinic), which is a collection of 15 Web-based applications you can use to test, repair, and optimize many areas of your PC. Included on the clinic Web site are:
The clinic not only reads your system but also has the ability to alter it through deleting files and altering settings.
WinTune 98. From Winmag.com (http://wintune.winmag.com/) comes WinTune 98, a system that lets you test your PC’s performance from the comforts of your Web browser. The only fixes here are the suggested kind; WinTune won’t repair areas for you. WinTune uses ActiveX technology (not Netscape, just Internet Explorer 3.02 or above) to enter your system and run a variety of tests on the CPU, memory, hard drive, video, and other areas. The product walks you through the various areas, accessing information from your registry and certain program files as it runs a variety of diagnostic tests before finally offering tips on how you might improve system performance.
If you are uncomfortable with the online version, you can download this as an application and run it on your system. One of the features that both versions incorporate is the ability to compare your results with that of other users, which is really the only potential for abuse with the downloadable version. (You have to give your e-mail address to use the program.)
The Service Station
Comes To You.
You call up Tech Support with a computer ailment, and a person asks you to describe what the computer is doing. You spend the next 20 minutes detailing the various peculiarities, lapsing into such technical terms as “thingies” and “whatchamacallits.” Tech Support sighs deeply and then asks you to describe what the computer is doing again.
Does this sound familiar? This is probably why so-called remote control software was developed—to help the beleaguered technical support people. This software lets you access, view, and in many cases, control what happens on another computer. A great solution for telecommuters, demonstrations and interactive training, management, and the local help desk, these products are also a possible source of concern for computer users.
Compaq’s Carbon Copy. A version of this program has shipped with all Compaq desktops for the past couple of years. Carbon Copy (http://www.compaq.com/services/carboncopy) lets Compaq technicians easily diagnose problems that users have with their computers. Compaq computer users call up the computer maker, and technicians can then interact with the PC, gathering a wide array of information that aids in the diagnosis of problems. However, computer users do have the ability, through Global Security options, to limit who gets access to their computers and what they can see.
Wind Design’s SupportAbility. South Wind Design’s SupportAbility (http://www.supportability.com/) doesn’t let people run your computer, but it does give them an extensive amount of information about your system. When installed on your computer, it collects information from your machine and uploads it to the SupportAbility server, where technicians on the receiving end can wade through the data and diagnose your system problems. The system “... delivers accurate, detailed, and complete information across all Internet/intranet connections, and works with firewalls and proxy servers.” The receiving end gets the information; users have the option, after the fact, of viewing a report detailing the data that went out.
Big for businesses, intranets, and other groups huddled around a tech support unit, SupportAbility can access a lot of system information, including:
Symantec’s pcAnywhere. Symantec’s pcAnywhere (http://www.symantec.com/pcanywhere/index.html) is hands-down the most popular remote control software on the market. Telecommuters and support services have a tremendous set of features to work with here, including enhanced Internet functionality, synchronization, and multiple platforms, and the security features include the use of wizards (for ease of configuration), password protection, encryption, restricted drive access, and more.
The Bot Business.
So why is it that these diagnostic spiders are gaining in popularity? According to Eddy Hsia, director of McAfee Clinic, a lot of it has to do with how easy they are to use. McAfee Clinic’s customers cite ease of configuration, installation, and update simplicity as primary reasons why they are attracted to the Clinic. “With the online version,” Hsia says, “all this is handled through a browser and designed for the novice user in need of virus protection and PC security.”
Dr. Daniel Miranker, CTO and co-founder of Liaison Technology, which creates spider technologies, agrees. “Computers, and more notably computer software, are becoming increasingly complex,” Miranker says. He notes that as computers become progressively easier to use, the software to run them must become more complex as a result. “As time goes on,” he says, “we can expect the trend to continue. Basic maintenance and diagnostics will become increasingly difficult, not easier.
One way to protect yourself from abuse is to be aware of what’s going on with the products in question. The U.S. Consumer Gateway (http://www.consumer.gov/) contains a wealth of consumer information from the federal government. Web sites such as The Internet Junkbuster Home Page (http://www.junkbuster.com/) and The Privacy Page (http://www.privacy.org/) are great sources of information on a wide range of Internet privacy issues. As we mentioned at the start, the more a product tends to stray into discomfort zones, the more vocal users become. Do a newsgroup search for products on Deja.com (http://www.deja.com/) to get the latest buzz.
As far as security features in products, some standard features you should try to get in a product include:
Even so, none of these are a guarantee. “People in general should understand that computers on networks are not private devices,” Miranker says. In a world where Bugs Bunny cursors and your own CD player are ratting you out behind your back, anything goes. Know what information you’re giving outside computers access to, and whenever possible, minimize your risks.
by Rich Gray
Manageable Software Services’ Catch-Up. The free application Catch-Up, from Manageable Software Services (http://www.manageable.com/), performs a similar function to Microsoft’s Product Update area; the main difference is it’s not limited to Microsoft products. After downloading the software and installing it, you can have Catch-Up scan your system for files. (It keeps a list of your files locally.) The application then gives you the choice of selecting what you want to update before going to its own database to check for relevant software. This feature of letting you choose what information to send out is rather unique in this field; most just compose a list and shoot it off to the server, only letting you pick and choose between updates after the list comes back.
Catch-Up doesn’t maintain personal information profiles about who is using the service, and the application itself works as a helper application with your browser (which means everything is viewed through a Web browser).
Symantec’s Norton Web Services. Symantec takes many of its popular Norton products to the Web with its subscription-based Norton Web Services (http://www.nortonweb.com/). This product straddles the line between updates and system fixes with its combination of LiveUpdate Pro and VitalCheck.
LiveUpdate Pro works like other update software; it scans your system and makes a list of all the software and hardware it detects. It then compares this list to its database, finding fixes, updates, drivers, and patches for a wide range of products. (NOTE: LiveUpdate Pro is different from LiveUpdate, another product from Norton that is used by desktop-based applications, such as Norton Utilities and Norton AntiVirus, to search the company’s site for program and virus updates.)
With VitalCheck, Norton takes its service to the next level: scanning and fixing your system.
Surfing The Virtual
Service Station. A bit more intrusive are programs that can enter your personal computer, look around, and sometimes even take a cyber-wrench to problem areas. Anyone who has ever run Windows’ ScanDisk or a virus-detection program is familiar with this area. These products poke through your system looking for trouble, and when they find it, they attempt to fix it (or in the case of viruses, stomp them out). Unlike the first group of products, where the potential for abuse is primarily in a loss of information, the stakes increase whenever you are dealing with a product that has the ability to alter your personal computer.
As mentioned, VitalCheck from Norton Web Services is one example of this type of service, dealing with both virus and disk-error (such as damaged boot records and lost clusters) detection and repair. The following is a list of services of this nature:
McAfee Clinic. Trying to corner the one-stop market for online diagnostic tools is McAfee Clinic (http://www.mcafee.com/centers/clinic), which is a collection of 15 Web-based applications you can use to test, repair, and optimize many areas of your PC. Included on the clinic Web site are:
- VirusScan Online: This section allows you to scan your system, install
ActiveShield to receive continuous protection from viruses, and create
a rescue disk to clean disabled PCs.
- Clean Hard Drive: You can eliminate unwanted files and applications
and restore applications using this software.
- Software Update Finder: Similar to the applications in the first
- category of products, this application can compare your existing software
with the McAfee database.
- Windows Advisor: Use this area to obtain help with a variety of applications
for Windows.
The clinic not only reads your system but also has the ability to alter it through deleting files and altering settings.
WinTune 98. From Winmag.com (http://wintune.winmag.com/) comes WinTune 98, a system that lets you test your PC’s performance from the comforts of your Web browser. The only fixes here are the suggested kind; WinTune won’t repair areas for you. WinTune uses ActiveX technology (not Netscape, just Internet Explorer 3.02 or above) to enter your system and run a variety of tests on the CPU, memory, hard drive, video, and other areas. The product walks you through the various areas, accessing information from your registry and certain program files as it runs a variety of diagnostic tests before finally offering tips on how you might improve system performance.
If you are uncomfortable with the online version, you can download this as an application and run it on your system. One of the features that both versions incorporate is the ability to compare your results with that of other users, which is really the only potential for abuse with the downloadable version. (You have to give your e-mail address to use the program.)
The Service Station
Comes To You. You call up Tech Support with a computer ailment, and a person asks you to describe what the computer is doing. You spend the next 20 minutes detailing the various peculiarities, lapsing into such technical terms as “thingies” and “whatchamacallits.” Tech Support sighs deeply and then asks you to describe what the computer is doing again.
Does this sound familiar? This is probably why so-called remote control software was developed—to help the beleaguered technical support people. This software lets you access, view, and in many cases, control what happens on another computer. A great solution for telecommuters, demonstrations and interactive training, management, and the local help desk, these products are also a possible source of concern for computer users.
Compaq’s Carbon Copy. A version of this program has shipped with all Compaq desktops for the past couple of years. Carbon Copy (http://www.compaq.com/services/carboncopy) lets Compaq technicians easily diagnose problems that users have with their computers. Compaq computer users call up the computer maker, and technicians can then interact with the PC, gathering a wide array of information that aids in the diagnosis of problems. However, computer users do have the ability, through Global Security options, to limit who gets access to their computers and what they can see.
Wind Design’s SupportAbility. South Wind Design’s SupportAbility (http://www.supportability.com/) doesn’t let people run your computer, but it does give them an extensive amount of information about your system. When installed on your computer, it collects information from your machine and uploads it to the SupportAbility server, where technicians on the receiving end can wade through the data and diagnose your system problems. The system “... delivers accurate, detailed, and complete information across all Internet/intranet connections, and works with firewalls and proxy servers.” The receiving end gets the information; users have the option, after the fact, of viewing a report detailing the data that went out.
Big for businesses, intranets, and other groups huddled around a tech support unit, SupportAbility can access a lot of system information, including:
- Contents of directories on any drive
- Contents of any registry entry
- Total and available memory
- Tasks and modules presently in memory
- Contents of the Autoexec.bat, Config.sys, Win.ini, and System.ini files.
Symantec’s pcAnywhere. Symantec’s pcAnywhere (http://www.symantec.com/pcanywhere/index.html) is hands-down the most popular remote control software on the market. Telecommuters and support services have a tremendous set of features to work with here, including enhanced Internet functionality, synchronization, and multiple platforms, and the security features include the use of wizards (for ease of configuration), password protection, encryption, restricted drive access, and more.
The Bot Business.
So why is it that these diagnostic spiders are gaining in popularity? According to Eddy Hsia, director of McAfee Clinic, a lot of it has to do with how easy they are to use. McAfee Clinic’s customers cite ease of configuration, installation, and update simplicity as primary reasons why they are attracted to the Clinic. “With the online version,” Hsia says, “all this is handled through a browser and designed for the novice user in need of virus protection and PC security.”
Dr. Daniel Miranker, CTO and co-founder of Liaison Technology, which creates spider technologies, agrees. “Computers, and more notably computer software, are becoming increasingly complex,” Miranker says. He notes that as computers become progressively easier to use, the software to run them must become more complex as a result. “As time goes on,” he says, “we can expect the trend to continue. Basic maintenance and diagnostics will become increasingly difficult, not easier.
One way to protect yourself from abuse is to be aware of what’s going on with the products in question. The U.S. Consumer Gateway (http://www.consumer.gov/) contains a wealth of consumer information from the federal government. Web sites such as The Internet Junkbuster Home Page (http://www.junkbuster.com/) and The Privacy Page (http://www.privacy.org/) are great sources of information on a wide range of Internet privacy issues. As we mentioned at the start, the more a product tends to stray into discomfort zones, the more vocal users become. Do a newsgroup search for products on Deja.com (http://www.deja.com/) to get the latest buzz.
As far as security features in products, some standard features you should try to get in a product include:
- Password protection
- Encryption
- Restricted drive access
- File transfer rights
- Host screen and keyboard locks
Even so, none of these are a guarantee. “People in general should understand that computers on networks are not private devices,” Miranker says. In a world where Bugs Bunny cursors and your own CD player are ratting you out behind your back, anything goes. Know what information you’re giving outside computers access to, and whenever possible, minimize your risks.
by Rich Gray
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