- I had no idea it was lurking on my home computer.
-
- I feel so ... violated.
-
- It was there all along, and like millions of other people
around the world, I never knew.
-
- Its name is BDE. Its mission: to take over my computer
and do some businessman's corporate bidding.
-
- BDE stands for Brilliant Digital Entertainment, a California
company that makes software for 3-D computer ads. The company also makes
software that creates a kind of secret peer-to-peer network.
-
- So secret, in fact, that many members of the network
are probably unaware of its existence.
-
- This is the BDE software that I found on my hard drive
this week.
-
- How did it happen?
-
- About a month ago, my husband downloaded file-swapping
software called Kazaa. Like Napster, Kazaa is basically used to trade music
and movie files.
-
- Brilliant's software piggybacks on Kazaa.
-
- Since Brilliant enjoys a business relationship with Kazaa,
you can't download Kazaa without it.
-
- According to published reports, Kazaa has been downloaded
20 million times since the BDE software was introduced.
-
- So far, the software has sat dormant on hard drives around
the world.
-
- But it's only a matter of time before Brilliant turns
on that network and your computer becomes it's doting slave.
-
- Brilliant plans to sell each computer's unused processing
power, Internet bandwidth and storage to other companies. The connection
will be viable as long as your computer is on and connected to the Internet
(if you have a broadband connection to the Web, that means always).
-
- While you're at work, your computer could be serving
up ads on other people's Web sites, for example.
-
- The company calls this brilliant idea Altnet.
-
- I can think of some other unpublishable names.
-
- We've seen other versions of this kind of distributed
computing, but normally the end goals of the network are a little more
altruistic.
-
- The Seti@Home network seaches for signs of extraterrestrial
life. Others use excess processing power on personal computers to find
cures for various diseases. And normally, people are well aware that they
are installing and running the networkís software.
-
- Brilliant's management insists users will be asked if
they want to participate.
-
- But this is coming from the company who stealthily got
their software on to my computer without my noticing in the first place.
-
- If you carefully read the installation instructions,
it does mention the software from Brilliant.
-
- And the End User agreement goes on, ad nauseam, about
the terms of using Brilliant's software. Itís in the middle of a
ridiculously long text file. You might want to read it though, since it
does get interesting.
-
-
- Apparently, 'BDE reserves the right to change or modify
any of the terms and conditions of this agreement and any of the policies
governing the services at any time in its sole discretion. Your continued
use of the software following BDE's changes will constitute your acceptance
of such changes.'
-
- So, if you do decide to keep the software, you better
keep your eyes peeled for any subtle changes. They could be renting out
your living room when you're not using it next.
-
- The BDE software is hard to get rid of, too. My husband
deleted Kazaa software, after he decided he like another file swapping
program called BearShare better. But that didn't get rid of BDE.
-
- On my Windows XP machine, the files didn't even appear
on my list of programs to add or remove. I had to search my hard drive
for any files called BDE, then delete the folder. (Note: Borland Database
Engine files are also called BDE, so tread carefully)
-
- There are also a few other suspicious files in my computer
that I believe are part of the company's less than brilliant endeavour
to keep track of my system.
-
- The detailed, techie explanation of scouring BDE from
your hard drive can be found at News.com.
-
- The whole thing is so creepy, it makes me want scan my
whole machine manually and take a long, hot shower.
-
- Copyright 1996-2002. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited.
All rights reserved. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSer
-
-
- Comment
-
- From Concerned User
4-15-2
-
- Hey Jeff, I was reading the letter that was posted on
your site about the spyware piggy-backing KaZaA. I know a little bit of
information that may help some of the readers or for people who'd like
to know how the hell to get this invasion of privacy off their system.
Below, are a few links that will help make the pain-steaking process a
little easier. Hope this is of some help.
-
- http://news.com.com/2100-1023-875274.html - The article
described about how to manually remove BDE's software.
-
- http://www.kazaalite.tk/ - A new altered version of KaZaA
that someone has created, and taken out the BDE software, Cydoor, which
also comes with KaZaA, and that stupid Bonzi Buddy.
-
- http://kazaalite.lunarpages.com/download.htm - This page
has a program that takes all the BDE software off your system for you with
the press of a button. It also includes Ad-Aware, a program that takes
ALL known Sypware off of your system.
-
- Hope this helped.
-
- Signed,
Concerned User
-
-
- Comment
-
- From Glen Warner
4-15-2
-
- Jeff --
-
- That KaZaa article makes me glad I have a Mac ....!
-
- My ex-girlfriend downloaded Bonzi Buddy (and learned
quickly to hate it), and her daughter is a big KaZaa fan. Despite my misgivings
(I told her to get a Mac in the first place), I did the right thing and
sent her the URL to that article. Hopefully, she hasn't filtered me ....
but, if she did, well, she did buy a Dell despite my recommendations, so
.... :o)
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