Vista Spies on Users?

[mwfanelli]

There is an article cited on Slashdot that indicates that Vista may be reporting activity to several government agencies such as the DOD, Homeland Security, even the Chinese government. The packet sniffing done by the guy who "discovered" the spying is highly questionable and its not clear if its just nonsense or real. But hey, its fun to read!

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/07/22/1712252.shtml

[Frog]

Oh good, another conspiracy. I'm thinking the Chinese might be upset to learn I won't buy any photo stuff from their country. That or they're trying to figure out how far along I am on that super weapon in my basement.
Wait! I don't have Vista. Or a basement for that matter.

[SmartWombat]

It's nonsense, and /. has sunk to a new low.

[deckcadet]

Cancel or Allow? ;)

While I doubt that this particular instance is true, i wonder if there's some other way that Vista sends personal information out, remember the WGA thing in XP?

then again, it doesn't bother me. *clears throat* Hello, I'm a Mac.....

[Skyman]

I am a mac a pc and a linux! I read that a security firm has worked out a way to use opera to hijack the iphone and that the same flaw applies to macs using the opera browser. I have a suspicion that since the mac has gone to intel chips the number of viruses, worms, spyware and trojans that target the mac platform is set to increase.

[Greg McCary]

There is an article cited on Slashdot that indicates that Vista may be reporting activity to several government agencies such as the DOD, Homeland Security, even the Chinese government. The packet sniffing done by the guy who "discovered" the spying is highly questionable and its not clear if its just nonsense or real. But hey, its fun to read!

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/07/22/1712252.shtml

I have heard this from a couple of local computer techies here in Rome. When Vista is loaded it reserves space on your hard drive that you can't get to. Maybe to spy on you and report bootleg copies of software ect. But it was just a rumour since it did take a small amount of hard space left unaccounted for. But it is just their rumour I am going on. Someone who works on my computers.....

[mwfanelli]

I have heard this from a couple of local computer techies here in Rome. When Vista is loaded it reserves space on your hard drive that you can't get to. Maybe to spy on you and report bootleg copies of software ect. But it was just a rumour since it did take a small amount of hard space left unaccounted for. But it is just their rumour I am going on. Someone who works on my computers.....

That space is used to run the recoveryt options. Compaq used to do that as well.

[mwfanelli]

Cancel or Allow? ;)

While I doubt that this particular instance is true, i wonder if there's some other way that Vista sends personal information out, remember the WGA thing in XP?

then again, it doesn't bother me. *clears throat* Hello, I'm a Mac.....

LOL! Hope you didn't install the last batch of Mac updates that is creating repeated core panics!

But yes, when an OS is designed to run on almost anything, including any piece of junk and/or hacked hardware (or even a Mac!) there will be more opportunities for holes and attacks. I don't really think the slashdot article reflects reality if for no other reason than it is extremely obvious. Plus, Zone Alarm has never picked up any unauthorized transmissions on my Vista laptop.

BTW, I have always been curious how Apple has managed to release some huge OS blunders when they design and control the hardware. I think QA is sleeping on the job too much!

[mwfanelli]

I am a mac a pc and a linux! I read that a security firm has worked out a way to use opera to hijack the iphone and that the same flaw applies to macs using the opera browser. I have a suspicion that since the mac has gone to intel chips the number of viruses, worms, spyware and trojans that target the mac platform is set to increase.

All the articles I read said the holes were in Safari, not Opera. Actually, a group managed to hijack the iPhone within the first couple of days, turning it into a small Apache and Python as well as running some other Open Source apps.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/breaking/...pps-282139.php

[deckcadet]

I dunno, Michael, I was running OS X 10.4.10 since the first developer seed (8R2205, 08, 12, 18, etc) about a month or so before its release and had no issues whatsoever, nor have I heard of any major issues with it.

System updates don't currently apply to me beyond firmware updates though, I'm running the developer preview of Leopard and have been since the conference in June