Digsby IM Client Quietly Installs Badware 259
An anonymous reader writes "IM company Digsby has quietly included malware in an update to their client software that utilizes users' computing power and bandwidth while idle for a quick buck. When questioned, developers at Digsby claim that they have done no wrong and that users should not complain because the client software is 'free.'" The money-making distributed computing software is in addition to six "crapware" apps that users must refuse during installation. The terms of service that no one ever reads does describe the CPU- and bandwidth-robbing moneymaker, and its off switch is located behind the "Support Digsby" menu item.
Re:Nuisance of free software (Score:5, Informative)
Again, Ubuntu didn't do anything wrong. They just changed the default "new tab" page from about:blank to the Ubuntu-themed Google search page that's already the default home page. They log usage of their web search service, like everyone else.
Also paying for software doesn't protect you from crapware. Just because they have less incentive to include that stuff doesn't mean they don't.
Re:Nuisance of free software (Score:3, Informative)
Did we already forget that Ubuntu also installed such and without consent [slashdot.org] (and Linux Mint) - here you atleast have the change to disallow installing it.
As someone mentioned here [slashdot.org], it's not alarming as you make it seem. It's only in the alpha version and not meant for the release version. Granted, I would have liked them to be a bit more forward about it, I'm not terribly upset.
Use Pidgin ... (Score:5, Informative)
FOSS, maybe? (Score:5, Informative)
Perhaps this is a good point in time to switch to Pidgin [pidgin.im] (multi-platform and my personal choice), Adium [adium.im] (Mac OS X), Empathy [gnome.org] (Gnome), Kopete [kde.org] (KDE), or some other, more trustworthy client?
Free competitors are equal or better than Digsby (Score:4, Informative)
Why not use one of the many free competing IM clients?
My favourite is Miranda [miranda-im.com] (Windows only, free but not open source)) because it's incredibly lightweight, uses the default Windows UI, and has an incredibly active plugin community.
Then there's Pidgin [pidgin.im] (multiplatform, free open source) which is also an excellent and mature IM which is also very extensible.
No crapware whatsoever on these similar apps. Support the projects that contribute to the initiatives of free software with your downloads and your dollars. Snub the software that steals control of your computer for monetary gain.
correction (Score:4, Informative)
My mistake! I'm happy to state that Miranda is both free and open source!
N ot free (Score:2, Informative)
It's not free if it costs you electricity to run the CPU at full power 24/7. All modern processors have idle states in which they reduce energy consumption. These are not just "wasted cycles" that could be put to some use anyway.
A large amount of people also have metered bandwidth connections which might get impacted by this.
Mod parent up! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Due diligence (Score:2, Informative)
Existing users who recieved automatic updates never recieved an updated EULA or any kind of notice of this addition and it was not even mentioned in the changelog.
fyi (Score:3, Informative)
From steve: digsby developer
@All: This issue will be addressed first thing in the morning. As for performance, the functionality has actually been off this entire time. It is in the TOS because it was planned for the future and Digsby has not been using your CPU/Bandwidth when idle so if you have had performance issues it is not Digsby related.
Old news (Score:5, Informative)
This started up back in December of last year according to the forum posts. To top it off, Steve the administrator, shut off the research module since then. Why the stir now? Plura is the one that needs to be hammered that provided the software for this.
Re:Better This Than Ads (Score:3, Informative)
Except it wasn't transparent until they got called on it. It's #15 in the TOS. The way to opt-out was to go to "Help" then click on "Support Digsby" then find it in the list of 12 or so options.
If this had been an "opt-in" via check-box, similar to the crapware with the installer, I wouldn't be searching for a new multi-client IM program now.
Re:Use Pidgin ... (Score:3, Informative)
If you use Windows you should try Miranda [miranda-im.com]. It's got a low footprint, it has all the great features you could wish for from an IM client (except video chat), and it's free. Plus it supports Jabber and Gtalk whereas the free version of Trlilian does not.