Market Research Company Secretly Installs Spyware 206
An anonymous reader writes "Forbes reports that two security experts are raising new questions about comScore, claiming that company's tracking software is being installed without consent on an unknown number of computers. The widely-used online research company takes screenshots of every Web page viewed by its 1 million participants, even transactions completed in secure sessions, like shopping or online checking. ComScore then aggregates the information into market analysis for its clients, which include such large companies as Ford Motor, Microsoft and The New York Times Co." From the article: "'[The] software is sneaking onto users' computers without the user agreeing to receive it,' says Harvard University researcher Ben Edelman, who documented at least ten unauthorized comScore downloads. Eric Howes, director of malware research at antivirus company Sunbelt Software, and his researchers separately observed hundreds of unauthorized comScore downloads in a three-month period this fall."
Intercepts https:// (Score:5, Interesting)
this is what they should do! (Score:5, Interesting)
Screenshots? (Score:5, Interesting)
This isn't what the actual article says. It says "virtual photos". Most likely is that it's just collecting URLs.. and maybe the contents of the page.. There would be no reason to do screenshots... It would make things much more difficult to analyze.
Do you have to deal with the problems? (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe you're 12 and your time's worthless. Mine isn't and I now charge $$$ to fix computers. You don't want to pay? YeeHaw! Go away, fix it yourself then, or find some rather dim student who has nothing better to do.
Re:Win-win-win solution (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I can't find the repository (Score:2, Interesting)
Availability of garbage (Score:3, Interesting)
(For those wondering, sometimes I feel like downloading things just so I can play with it if I wanted to, in a VM for example, where a snapshot can make everything go away)
Why doesn't it inform you? (Score:2, Interesting)
If comScore isn't being devious or underhanded, why don't they have a clear install/operation routine that warns you every time you fire up a web-browser session?
All it would take is a box, perhaps giving you an opt-out for that session or simply just recording URLs. This would still provide accurate and interesting data. Especially in the latter.
Then the marketing droids would see which kinds of information people didn't want them to track.
I'm guessing they chose the spyware/malware route (which I see this software as) because they realized the obvious: who, in their right minds, would allow all their web surfing habits to go to someone else?
Additionally, how long do you think it is going to take for someone to alter the URL/IP in the software to send that data to another proxy? How long would it take any non-very-technical user to figure out this had been done?
Re:More examples of software Mac users don't have (Score:3, Interesting)
Snob.. Own a Mac.
Sensible about security.. Own a non-Windows computer.
Smile
Re:Well? (Score:3, Interesting)
In contrast that silly UK guy is going to get deported to the US because he was looking for UFOs by getting into US Gov machines without permission.