Given that there's more than a million users and I've never heard of any security problems with the programs downloaded from their site I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. When and if I can actually get the new version to download I'll have to see how that goes, but I'm reasonably confident that they aren't deliberately messing up my PC.
No no no: think like a super-villain. You've got a program that reads and writes files to over a million computers. Do you use it right away? You certainly don't use it to add virii (although a back door is a possibility). How do you know where virii on your machine come from? Does your anti-virus software screen the SETI online files? Does anything?
The new software is even more disturbing: it upgrades itself without any intervention on your part, multiple projects can use it, it uses a non-standard XML (so again, good luck figuring out what it's doing), and has a lengthy FAQ explaining how it isn't secure.
The new version explicitly states that it is snooping on your machine to optimize itself: if it's looking at your hardware capabilities, what else is it doing?
You should take a look at the FAQ, especially the security portion. And think like a super villain. I know I do. Here's what I'd do:
1) Collect all sorts of information on users. 2) Use everyone's machines as processing power for government surveillance projects... or my own surveillance projects. Yep, SETI's churning away on decoding something... but is it alien signals or breaking encrypted e-mail? How many computers does it take to crack 128-bit encryption? 3) Prepare machines for the mother of all computer meltdowns. Imagine what you could do to the internet if you had full control over 1 million machines.
The possibilities are endless, and the current project is tailor-made to appeal to technogeeks with high end equipment.
And the new version comes with a built-in warning: it's called BOINC. I cheerfully suggest that if you're not familiar with the term, do a dictionary search on "boink."
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-08-08 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-08 03:21 pm (UTC)The new software is even more disturbing: it upgrades itself without any intervention on your part, multiple projects can use it, it uses a non-standard XML (so again, good luck figuring out what it's doing), and has a lengthy FAQ explaining how it isn't secure.
The new version explicitly states that it is snooping on your machine to optimize itself: if it's looking at your hardware capabilities, what else is it doing?
You should take a look at the FAQ, especially the security portion. And think like a super villain. I know I do. Here's what I'd do:
1) Collect all sorts of information on users.
2) Use everyone's machines as processing power for government surveillance projects... or my own surveillance projects. Yep, SETI's churning away on decoding something... but is it alien signals or breaking encrypted e-mail? How many computers does it take to crack 128-bit encryption?
3) Prepare machines for the mother of all computer meltdowns. Imagine what you could do to the internet if you had full control over 1 million machines.
The possibilities are endless, and the current project is tailor-made to appeal to technogeeks with high end equipment.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-08 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 12:39 am (UTC)