Privacy Concerns and The CueCat 158
An anonymous reader sent us a story running over at
cnet about the
privacy issues with the CueCat. The article gives them a (somewhat undeserved) benefit of the doubt as it talks about various privacy groups being concerned about what DC is doing. Fortunately there are instructions online about how to modify the cat to disable its internal identification code (its not any more difficult then decrypting their split-invert-xor "Intellectual Property") by simply cutting one wire. Or you can just use one of the many free programs floating around. Oh, and since their server was cracked a few days ago, not only are they sniffing all this data, but crackers probably have a copy too. I would have been sick of this story weeks ago, but it just keeps getting funnier every time it pops up.
Read the FAQ (Score:2)
From the FAQ at CRQ.com:
Q: Is my
A: No. Your
I have to wonder...what the hell are people trying to do with these things?!
--K
---
Making the Cat Useful (Score:1)
Re:DC Lets you opt out of ID 'feature' (Score:1)
Belo Corporation (Score:2)
Belo Corporation [belo.com] is one of the investors in CueCat. They own [belo.com] a number of TV stations such as WFAA channel 8 [wfaa.com] here in Dallas where I see CueCat promotions all the time now. They also own the Dallas Morning News [dallasmorningnews.com]. Their web sites, which run on NT, have many web bugs, which made it necessary for me to block the domain names they use to deliver those bugged images (which also took out most of the ads). The evil is not so much in DC as it is in companies like Belo that want to get that private and personal information about your, your family, your web travels, and your spending habits. They will do what it takes to get such information, including investing in startups like DC and CueCat.
Re:Digital Demographics (Score:2)
ahem.
Violating what section of the DMCA?
The DMCA only covers systems that control access to copyrighted works, not anything with encryption in it.
I think you're off on that one... (Score:2)
I think you're way off here. Now, if in addition to having personal info on these guys I had the power to cancel the health insurance of the CEO with a genetic defect/addiction/bad eating habits/etc. or initiate an audit of the IRS officers that would be different. Then maybe they'd stop asking for so much info in the first place. As it stands, what you're suggesting is quite asymmetric. It reminds me of someone's sig here (I forget who the quote is from, and I'm probably mangling it):
Re:Oh foo... You're worked up over nothing. (Score:1)
if you can come up with proof that your interpretation as a metaphor, and what that metaphor stands for, is correct, i will lick your boots
and if you can't, how bout you lose the inferiority complex, neh?
Re:Wired Won't Cover This (Score:1)
Re:Duh. (Score:1)
If you want to cut the wires and use it yourself, that's great. It's your device, and you can do what you want. But if your buying habits have been spread all over the net, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Ultimate Slashdot Post (Score:1)
----
Re:Digital Demographics (Score:1)
Whether or not the law actually applies is hardly necessary to bring charges up against someone. Look at the Wen Ho Lee (sp?) case. 59 counts of various crap (including espionage) were thrown at the guy. One count of "mishandling data" stuck. It's how the system works these days. The Justice Department is not interested in justice. They're interested in making sure that somebody who gets charged with something serves some time. Hackers are especially vulnerable these days (see Kevin Mitnik's or Bernie S.'s stories at 2600 magazine [2600.com] for more examples.)
I'm just saying that the details of the law are determined in a courtroom. And most of us can't afford to start out in that courtroom, much less see a case like that to completion. Color us "chilled".
John
The Church of the SubGenius [subgenius.com] -- because somebody had to put all that slack in there...
Re:Big differences, big dangers (Score:2)
Vote Nader
Just the thing to have on your tag line after 2 paragraphs about a hypothetical silly party...
Re:DC Lets you opt out of ID 'feature' (Score:2)
You, the end-user, by DEFAULT should be OPTED OUT, and then you can offer politely to your users to OPT IN, explaining very clear and honestly what they can opt IN for.
It should not be the burden of the gullible end- user to find out, that he can OPT OUT of something, he never had deliberately OPTED IN in the first place.
It is just a matter of respecting your end-user's boundaries. It is the company's responsibility to step back. They should tell you HONESTLY what data they are interested in getting and why, and then ask you politely, if you might to WANT TO OPT IN on that? Anything else is misleading and abusing the technology.
Re:Nelson from the Simpsons would post with this: (Score:1)
I'll say it:
HAH-hah!
Re:Making the Cat Useful (Score:1)
Then you could classify the web content scientifically according to the Library of Congress Subject Classification Schedule.
A million cats chasing a million books and their subject categories...
just don't use the cat... (Score:1)
Think this through. (Score:1)
Except that then you need to know when you put the device together exactly where it's going to be shipped. If you change your mind about a shipment - "Oh, forget Radio Shack. They're assholes. Send these to Circuit City." - you're screwed. It also doesn't provide any kind of internal tracking for how many of the devices were sent to each vendor, while with their current system, all you need to do is count the unique IDs that were sent to them.
It's entirely reasonable that they'd want to track this kind of information. The problem is that if you know who has which device, and you know which devices made which requests, you basically have to take their word for it that they want cross-reference the data.
Or, as another example: it's your business if you want to click on a banner ad for Playboy. It's your business if you want to log in with a unique userID to a web site. It's in the site's best interest to be able to identify their ad click-through rate. They're on their honor, however, not to cross reference the information (unless you don't mind the site admins knowing that you're too chicken to go to a real porn site).
Re:How Microsoft can use this (Score:2)
It would be much simpler for them to encourage the OEMs to put the bar code on the PC itself. Therefore enforcing one windows per PC
However this does mean that
you would never be able to change the case...
What's this We Stuff White Man? (Score:2)
Who wrote all that stuff?
We did. It wasn't some corporate bean counter. It wasn't some fourth line manager who never programmed a line in his life. It wasn't the CEO of a big company. It was ordinary subversive evil citiziens. Just like me.
Afraid yet?
What if there were a bunch of us? What if we were working together? What if we were using our collected information to manipulate your behavior in subtle little ways that only a qualified chaos engineer could predict? Would you start a conspiracy investigation? We wrote the software that runs on the police computers. Would you meet in closed rooms to try to fight us? We can track your movements from your cell phones. That programmer in the next cube could be one of us. We mgiht be working for the IRS, the FBI, your bank. We could be anywhere.
Or not.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled paranoia trip.
Re:You know... (Score:2)
Re:How gullible do they think people are? (Score:3)
I don't think so. Yes, that would tell them which distributor that the user received theirs from, but nothing more. It doesn't tell them how many total users are using their CueCats. If 300k units were sent through Wired, how would they know who kept them, and who threw them away?
They would see, on their side, that 40k scans with Wired CueCats were made today. Is that 40k people, or one person scanning 40k items?
Re:What line to clip? (Score:2)
Re:What line to clip? (Score:4)
I'm not sure, but I think there is a way to just flash the eeprom so it no longer sends out the ID. At least I think that's what this [tuwien.ac.at] does.
Re:Dyking the wire (Score:1)
I stopped using my card and started paying cash - the discount just isn't worth it. From the store's perspective, there is no connection between me and what I buy. Some people may wonder, "What's the big deal?" Well, people need to realize that they're PEOPLE, and not just revenue feeds for the commerce machine.
So people can show that they're not "revenue feeds for a commerce machine" by ... paying the commerce machine more money for their groceries?
The horror, my grocer knows what groceries I buy! If I don't do something quick, they might base local advertising on our aggregate purchase patterns, or even offer targeted discounts to cardholders! Why can't we go back to the good old days before these large corporations, when you bought your groceries from small town independent stores, where the proprietor knew you personally and rang up your purchase himself, but you had your privacy because ... um ... if you wanted to make unusual purchases you could buy them from another town to avoid gossip?
Re:I think you're off on that one... (Score:1)
Two way info flow is exactly what we need, but the info that we need from them is not the same as the info they want from us.
Re:How did RC get my real name? (Score:2)
Damn... Been watching too much X-Files...
Yes, They Track The Consumers (Score:2)
OUR RIGHT TO KEEP INFORMATION COLLECTED IN OUR DATABASES MAY BE CHALLENGED IN THE FUTURE. We intend to use our :C.R.Q. and :Cue:C.A.T. technology to develop and
maintain a substantial database of consumer demographic information that our
customers can use with our permission to conduct advertising campaigns. In
particular, we intend to require each user of our technology to provide basic
individual information in order to register and activate our :C.R.Q. software
application. Under our privacy policy, individual user information will not be
made available to outside parties and will be used internally by us only if a
user gives express permission for such use. Some summary demographic data,
however, may be made available to outside parties. Privacy concerns may cause
users to resist providing the personal data necessary to support this profiling
capability. More importantly, even the perception of security and privacy
concerns, whether or not valid, may inhibit Internet user acceptance of our
technology and products. Furthermore, users may bring lawsuits against us
seeking to prohibit us from collecting this data. Even if without merit,
lawsuits could impair Internet user acceptance of our technology and products.
In addition, legal requirements may heighten these concerns if businesses must
notify Internet users that the data captured after visiting certain websites may
be used by marketing entities to direct product promotion and advertising to
that user. We are not aware of any such laws currently in effect in the United
States. Other countries and political entities, such as the European Economic
Community, have adopted these types of laws. We cannot predict how the
international roll-out of our technology will be affected by these types of
laws.
Re:Marketing Student (Score:1)
I'm not justifing anything. I know that I get many good product ideas come into my In box every day. There are thousands of products out there you haven't the slightest clue exist, unless all you do is read the net and magazines 24 hours straight. Without advertising, you wouldn't even know it exists.
Apparently you missed my point, because my point was advertising of the future will tell you about things you don't know anything about yet. All this "data gathering" is just the larval stage of it. Give it a few years to mature.
Just because a product is good doesn't mean anything. Promotion is 1/4 of the marketing equation, and without inventive ways of promotion it will probably slip by unnoticed.
I do marketing for a living, plus I am a geek too. I know both sides of the equation, and I know the happy middle. Without advertising there would be no economy because no one would know anything about anything. True, it does often go overboard. When it does, the public reacts by not buying it.
The main idea I was trying to say is that it doesn't matter really. The information IS going to be gathered on the majority of the public. The important part is to make sure through laws, boycotts, picketing, or what have you that it isn't misused by any one entity. The information WILL be gathered, IS being gathered, and there is NOTHING you can do about it. It's too late for that, that battle was over six months after the invention of browser cookies. The battle that should be fought is the use of that data. Focus your attention on that, or your going to loose that one too.
Re:I think you're off on that one... (Score:2)
Or are you arguing that there's NO value to reiprocal transparency, and being kept in the dark (one way info flow) is okay?
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Can someone fill me in (Score:2)
A new cat-shaped scanner being given away to millions of consumers
Why would someone give away scanners to consumers? Why would someone make a scanner shaped like a cat? I use a flatbed scanner which is shaped like a sheet of paper and that's far more convenient.
Privacy advocates are investigating the device, known as the CueCat, and its ability to snoop on consumers while swiping bar codes printed in catalogs and magazines
Why would I scan barcodes in magazines? If you don't scan anything you won't get snooped. Simple as that. And why is a scanner connected to the Internet?
So somebody! Please tell me what the hell this article is about. Have I missed some vital part of American culture or something? Does everyone except me scan their barcodes and I'm missing out on something?
--
CueCat is the VCR+plus of 2000 (Score:2)
But do you actually know anyone who owns (or ever owned) a VRC+plus? Me either.
Those codes are there because the VCR+plus people made a big stink (and probably paid a bit) to have support for their product included in your TV listings. The CueCat's going down the same road. Five years from now, everyone will be printing barcodes in magazines to let CueCat users visit their site. But you won't know anyone who actually uses a CueCat.
Shaun
Re:DC Lets you opt out of ID 'feature' (Score:2)
Ummmm...
In the case of the Radio Shack scanner, you are opting in by supplying info (and I expect signing something) to get the scanner in the first place.
In the case of the Forbes and Wired scanners, I expect there is an EULA that you click to accept when you install the software.
Now, if you were going to use one of the Forbes/Wired scanners with the hacked drivers/software, then maybe you have an argument, but the courts will have to decide this given that as it currently stands you likely violated the DMCA (which unfortunately is still "the law of the land" at least until Suprems Court gets ahold of it.)
Re:What happens when they go out of business? (Score:1)
>with 5+ Cuecats,
5+... that's it?!?!?!?
Hell, back over labor day weekend, just after DC started cease-and-desisting anyone who looked at a cuecat funny, some friends of mine and I went Radio Shack hopping throughout the SF penninsula.
We got better than 100+.
The next weekend we threw (or (baseball) batted, or drove(golfed)) most of them into the bay.
We have tape. Once we get it edited down to a reasonable presentation, we'll compress it to a Quicktime movie, and DC and RS will get some intresting email!
How Microsoft can use this (Score:2)
Can you imagine a bar code scanner driver built into the next Windows, and being unable to log into Windows unless you scan the barcode printed on the CD? Lost your CD? You must be a pirate.
Is there any reason this couldn't happen?
It would probably just be simpler to tattoo a barcode on each of us at birth.
Any way to use it as a normal barcode scanner? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:"Windows" as a trademark (Score:2)
It was more than one character, of that I'm certain. I think it was more like 15.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:What line to clip? (Score:2)
tee hee...522666
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Re:How gullible do they think people are? (Score:1)
You don't get something for nothing... (Score:1)
The bit I like is that we can now use them unfettered, and there's nothing particularly illegal in it until UCITA is passed, yet we can still get them for free. I bet the majority of people who get these with their magazines (maybe not the Radio Shack people) will be psuedo-savvy, and will just use them as DC intended.
DC do seem to have shown a misunderstanding of human nature, but overall I think their plan will work out. A small minority of people would actually buy these for the fun of scanning codes, but most people would like the free gimmick of scanning advertising codes. Heck, they could even be taken immediately to personalised commerce sites if DC start trading user info directly with the sites. Rather than a breach of privacy, it's an enhancement of the shopping experience, where you have to openly sell your soul anyway.
Re:Look who's talking. (Score:2)
--
Amusing review (Score:1)
Salon ran an unflattering review [salon.com] on our beloved CueCat - stopping just short of using terms like "hare-brained" or "cockamamie". It does touch on privacy issues, but mostly it just blasts it for being such a dumb concept and not even functioning correctly.
it's called <A HREF...> look into it. (Score:1)
I don't care how much info your post contains, if it ain't pretty, why bother?
SLASHDOT ARE VIOLATING MY PRIVACY!!!! (Score:1)
Re:Big differences, big dangers (Score:1)
The audio bug is loud, obvious, and extremely annoying. It has to be loud and obvious so the monitoring software can be absolutely sure of what it is. So the signal can't go through any limiters that would lower the level too much, and automatic gains throw coniption fits when they encounter the bug. The upshot being to piss off engineers in as many ways possible.
And anyway, it's not like you can't unplug your microphone. (Or, Goddess forbid, not install the software.)
If I were a stalker... (Score:1)
Re:Digital Demographics (Score:2)
Or if you write your own software to go directly to amazon.com for books, imdb for DVDs, etc.
Marketing Student (Score:1)
Being a marketing student, I have realized that this is the next form of marketing. Now that the means are there to track individuals directly and such, you no longer have to go off any demographics. You can just tell the computer "find me the people that like this and this and this" and it can give you an exact list.
Yes, you may hate it, but it does have it's usefullness. This way you can receive information on products you have proven to be interested in, and might actually want. Eventually it will come down to you won't receive and advertisments except for the things you express interest in, even though you might not have realized it.
It is not dangerous for any one company to have a small bit of information on you. What is dangerous is for any one entity to have all avalible information on you. If some company knows you went to their website, so be it. If some company knows what you do all day, then that's a different story. As long as the information is divided up between competing parties then there isn't really a need to freak out so much.
Re:It IS easy to disable... (Score:1)
Thanks for the pin 4 confirmation bit.
Re:How Microsoft can use this (Score:1)
Marketing Student (Score:1)
Being a marketing student, I have realized that this is the next form of marketing. Now that the means are there to track individuals directly and such, you no longer have to go off any demographics. You can just tell the computer "find me the people that like this and this and this" and it can give you an exact list.
Yes, you may hate it, but it does have it's usefullness. This way you can receive information on products you have proven to be interested in, and might actually want. Eventually it will come down to you won't receive and advertisments except for the things you express interest in, even though you might not have realized it.
It is not dangerous for any one company to have a small bit of information on you. What is dangerous is for any one entity to have all avalible information on you. If some company knows you went to their website, so be it. If some company knows what you do all day, then that's a different story. As long as the information is divided up between competing parties then there isn't really a need to freak out so much.
Re:Is there anywhere to get a cuecat in the UK? (Score:1)
Re:CueCat is the VCR+plus of 2000 (Score:2)
The last two or three VCRs I bought all had VCR+. I never set it up because it wasn't worth the effort, but these days just about every VCR has it.
I just went to Crutchfield's page, out of the 20 VCRs they list all but three have VCR+.
Re:The "security code" and the proper bar code? (Score:2)
The (undiscussed) CueCat - TV connection (Score:3)
Oh foo... You're worked up over nothing. (Score:2)
>>barcode on each of us at birth.
>I refuse to take the mark of the beast!!!
Now, it's been a LONG time since I've attended mass, but even *I* remember the important basics!
It's only the mark of the beast if it's on a specific body location. IIRC, the forehead and/or the right hand are the parts specified.
So the solution is simple. We'll simply require everyone to be barcoded on their LEFT hands, or the back of their neck, or the lower right buttock; or somewhere similarly non-biblical. Simple enough way to keep the fundies happy, eh?
In any event, barcoding at birth wouldn't work anyway. The body does a LOT of growing in its early years, and a barcode done that early would just streach and become distorted and unreadable.
Barcoding should be done when the body's finished most of its growth. Perhaps at age 18, as a prerequisite to being considered a legal adult, able to vote, go to college, buy alcohol, enter the workforce, buy/rent a car, get married, etc.
Resistance is NOT futile!!!
Haiku:
I am not a drone.
Remove the collective if
Wired Won't Cover This (Score:2)
I've e-mailed them twice about this, but I'm yet to receive a response. I assume that they really are tied to the print version still, and they're simply not allowed to write about it. Still, I guess I've come to expect more of Wired. I never thought I'd see the day when C|Net was proved to be a more useful news resource than Wired.
-Waldo
Re:How gullible do they think people are? (Score:1)
Nelson from the Simpsons would post with this: (Score:2)
DC made one of the biggest mistakes that any hardware designer can make: using the beta stage prototype as the final product. If they had used their brains, they would've used ALL the wires to transmit the ID code. And they would've used a MUCH more complex algorithm for encrypting the protocol. Obviously, these brainless capitalists only thought of one thing: profit. Go to any business college and you'll see the greek letter pi numerous times, but it won't stand for 3.1415926535897932384626433...; it will stand for profit.
It IS easy to disable... (Score:5)
It's pretty simple, really:
Step one: Take out the four screws on the bottom of the scanner and pull the cover off, leaving the insides exposed.
Step two: Take off the four screws fastening the board to the plastic case and separate the board from the case.
Step three: Locate the S93C46 EEPROM on the bottom of the board. It's small, it has eight pins, and it should say "S93C4 6DV03 2704" (it's three lines, spaces indicate the line breaks). That's the chip that stores your serial number-- innocent-looking little bugger, isn't it?
Step four: Using whatever method you like, cut the connection right underneath the "4" in "2704". That is, if the "U5" on the circuit board is upside-down by the top-left corner of the chip, you want to cut the lower-left pin. I found that a small pair of wire clippers was actually sufficient to sever the connection-- use whatever you feel comfortable with.
Step five: put the damn thing back together again, and scan something. The serial number should come back as a repeating "BM5U". Congratulations, your
Elapsed time: 10 minutes if you're clumsy like me and lose one of the screws. Less if you're good at this sort of stuff.
Have fun!
:(ue:(at logo (Score:1)
CueHawk Business Plan (Score:2)
Hmmm. I'll need one employee for every CueHawk in operation to better track my customer's needs. And I'll need some sort of feedback device. Got it! A shocker welded to the right hand of each CueHawk user. This way if the CueHawk user doesn't wake up in time to eat their (my) favorite cereal, I can remotely motivate them.
Ah, DC - I know you wish you came up with this plan, but it's mine. Let this post prove that CueHawk is my idea. And I'll sue you for royalties, I will.
Galvin the Great United Worker for Better Understanding of Why We Work
Re:It IS easy to disable... (Score:2)
So, for implementing that, someone got a bunch of cease and desist letters and were threatened with lawsuits. Well, what if I tell you which wire to cut to have exactly the same effect? Is that a violation of their "intellectual property"? Is it an evil act of reverse engineering? Probably not; it seems like, once someone gives you a device, you're free to break it if you want. When will the justice system realize it's the same thing with software?
Re:"Windows" as a trademark (Score:2)
I grabbed one of everything that looked even vaguely interesting . . .
Duh. (Score:2)
The thing that will seperate the companies is how their privacy policy is done, and if they follow it. But, anyone that is surprised by this must be really naive.
Re:DC Lets you opt out of ID 'feature' (Score:2)
Yeah right, after they have sold the data to Spamlord Wallace and a whole bunch of other similar a**holes... How can you be so naive...
"Windows" as a trademark (Score:2)
> I wonder when Microsoft is going to sue over X's use of the word "Windows."
I'm not managing to get all the cobwebs out of the way, but it seems to me that in the late 80's, ms made a big deal about "windows" itself *not* being a trademark, but I forget why.
The Apple II recognized windows on its screen--you poked upper, lower, left, and right boundaries into page 0 (was it addresses 12-15???) to redefine the printing window. Radio Shack also called a portion of their screen (a single character, iirc) used for the speach synthesizer a window.
There were otheres, too; mMicrosoft *couldn't* have made a claim of orininality in the use of "windows" . . .
>Isn't this just a return to the old days of copy protection via
>manual keyword lookup?
Argh. My copy of master of orion works that way, even *with* the cd in the drive (it was never meant for cd; the cd just has a
Fortunately, you can give a three-fingered salute when it pops up the thrid one, and take up a few turns back . . .
hawk, who would be seriously annoyed andnever buy another of their games over this if it weren't for the fact that he only paid $2 for it at the dollar store . . .
Re:How gullible do they think people are? (Score:2)
In other words, the id not only helps them trakck you, but also tells them which magazine they sent it from . . .
hawk
How did RC get my real name? (Score:2)
sence the 1980s.. to give them credit this data lasts only a month.. they clear out old records they only want data on frequent
shoppers)
How did Radio Shack get my real name, address and phone numnber? I have 2 CueCats. Picked up one at Pentagon City Mall, Arlington VA during a 2600 meeting. Gave them this handle and a fabricated address.
The second one I picked up at a Radio Shack in Tennessee. Gave them a different fake name, address, phone.
Now, please tell me how they now have my real name, address and phone number? This sounds like something out of a Will Smith movie or something!
Even when the CueCat that they will be sending because I subscribe to Wired arrives, it will be declawed. When I use it on a BSD system, they will still not know who I am, as far as I know anyway.
So, please share with us how they are getting the real names of people when they do not even ask for ID of any form, nor do they verify if the address or phone number is valid at the time they enter the data.
Visit DC2600 [dc2600.com]
That's not the mistake DC made. (Score:2)
Digital Convergence actually made two very different mistakes:
- They used an external EEPROM, instead of one on the same chip as their microcontroller.
- They used a meaningless obfuscation algorithm instead of a block cypher to "protect" the results.
Had they done something as simple as DES-encrypting the scanned output with a serial number key that couldn't be scanned by watching an external EEPROM's lines with a storage 'scope, their "IP" would be secure today. However, Digital Convergence either cannot find people who know what a security model is, or management doesn't listen to them. Either way, their tough luck. Dumb business model; I hope they go broke.--
Build a man a fire, and he's warm for a day.
Re:Dyking the wire (Score:2)
Everytime I'm at the grocery store watching people gleefully fork over their discount card, I wonder if they have any idea about what they're doing. I stopped using my card and started paying cash - the discount just isn't worth it. From the store's perspective, there is no connection between me and what I buy. Some people may wonder, "What's the big deal?" Well, people need to realize that they're PEOPLE, and not just revenue feeds for the commerce machine. I get the feeling that this new approach to marketing wants to turn our society into a mass of pavlovian droids - we advertise, you salivate, and then give us your money.
Digital Demographics (Score:5)
The output of the device looks like this (after processing by the keyboard handler):
The device sends an ALT-F10 first, which is apparently a signal that a scan follows. The next field is the serial number. The third is the barcode type, and the fourth is the barcode data. Fields are separated by periods.
Here is what the above scan looks like decoded:
000000002838610102 UPA 040000029311
This scan was of a UPC symbol on a bag of M&Ms. The output of the cuecat is scrambled using a modified base64 encoding. My software simply applies the inverse of the encoding. The Windows CRQ software does not itself process the scan data like this. It simply inverts the case of the scan and builds a URL using it. The basic form of the URL is as follows:
http://[SERVER].dcnv.com/CRQ/1..[ACTIVATION CODE].X.[SCANDATA].0
With the [SCANDATA] field broken out, it looks like this:
http://[SERVER].dcnv.com/CRQ/1..[ACTIVATION CODE].[X].[SERIAL NUMBER].[TYPE].[DATA].0
Here is an example, using the scan data from the M&Ms (try it):
http://t.dcnv.com/CRQ/1..ACTIVATIONCODE.04.c3Nzc3
My software perserves the serial number, but does not transmit an activation code; it actually substitutes the letters "ACTIVATIONCODE" where they should go. This is enough to prevent the tracking of scans, I think. In fact, their servers do not even check for the validity of the activation code.
Their Windows software asks a large number of demographic-defining questions before it actually installs the software. The answers are keyed to your "activation code," without which the Windows software will not work. But because they never do data validation server-side, you can still use their web servers without sending tracking data.
In a separate issue, their "registration database" was not a database (a plain text file, actually), and was stored at a publically accessible URL; they have since disallowed access to it from the internet:
http://net.c-me-register.com/Registrations/regist
This is what the data looked like:
TS=09132000082913&FIRSTNAME=PETE&LASTNAME=PAGE&EM
TS=09132000082926&FIRSTNAME=frank&LASTNAME=kasica
TS=09132000082936&FIRSTNAME=claude&LASTNAME=perry
---- ----
Re:DC Lets you opt out of ID 'feature' (Score:2)
Which leads me to believe that they can, like Amazon, change the terms at a whim to something more beneficial to them.
If you trust them to have your best interests in mind, go ahead. They are a company. Their responsibility is to their investors, which generally is to maximize their investment. Preserving your rights is not necessarily part of their buisness plan, and if it is included in there, it can just as easily be removed.
Re:Cuecats in the UK? Europe? (Score:2)
so beware horror shows . . (Score:3)
you are getting sleepy . . . . you will do as I say . . . you will turn on your computer . . . you will --oh, damn, you idiot, you're using windows, you will reboot . . .
Now, take out your cuecat . . . scan *all* your cd's [*chrotle*] . . . put it in the fishtank and scan your fish . . .
*ZZT*
\begin{plastic phony voice with excessive plastic surgery and stiff hair}
We interrupt this program to bring you a special report of idiots, believed to belong to a cult, who committed suicide tonight by putting electric devices in fishtanks. In related news, there is a special on exotic sushi at . . .
:)
Re:Look who's talking. (Score:2)
It's a little web-proxy which allows you to place filters on all incoming HTML - so you can remove frames and block banners and counters etc.
This is a good thing in itself and helps to speed up your web access - but it also allows you to put filters on outgoing HTML too.
So you can set it to lie about who you are, what you're using and where you came from (no referral information).
Big differences, big dangers (Score:5)
The program sits there and listens to the audio feed of your TV. When it hears the CC sound, it takes you to the website, just like scanning a barcode does.
Now, take a look at the software - there thing uses user profiles (if you have them set up). Each person who uses the computer is encouraged to have thier own profile. So, when Mom sits down and scans stuff out of Family Circle, or watches LifetimeTV, or scans a bag of Gold Medal Flour - bingo! DC now knows this stuff. Dad watches ESPN, drinks Budweiser, and eats Guy's Potato Chips. Little Billy watches Nick Jr., drinks Hi-C, and enjoys Little Debbie sacky cakes. Now all those ads you see in print or on TV can be even MORE targeted. You simply change part of the CC-TV code to reflect the channel that is broadcasting it and you can watch the audience reaction to putting a commercial right at the highlight of the show - do they turn the channel? Do they just sit there and watch the commercials?
This is so orwellian in it's nature that I am happier now than ever that I don't run Windows and am not fooled into running CC's software.
Better yet, let's do this hypothetical situation: Pretend that I am a political candidate for the Silly Party. We put on our national convention. At the start of the broadcast, Joe Commentator comes on and says, "Turn on your Cue Cat software folks! The Silly Party will be sending you to various parts of the Silly Party platform during the presentation tonight."
Instantly, my minions at Silly Party HQ can start watching the audience reaction of the home viewers. Since I am using a teleprompter to give my lecture to the masses, it can be instantly changed and edited. The minions see me getting too many of the "angry white male" audience tuning away and returning to Monday Night Nitro? Simply insert political rhetoric aimed at them. Whoops! Now the latino population is tuning out! Better say something to keep them listening. And this can go on and on and on for the rest of the convention.
This just scares the crap out of me.
Vote Nader [votenader.org]
user data (Score:2)
Seems pretty simple.
You know... (Score:2)
All I could say to the title at news.com was a big sarcasm-dripping "Nooooooooooooooooooooo!".
The first thing that the reverse engineering discovered, as even reported at Slashdot, was a unique ID at the start of every scan, same sequence of characters for each scan but different for each cat device.
And that was about a month ago. Only *now* are people discovering this?
What's amazing is that the trackign they are doing is really no different from what the industry 'accepts' as standard for banner ads, web bugs, and javascript, with the same amount of control (read: none) the user has on deciding what information to share. Hypocrits.
Re:Big differences, big dangers (Score:2)
This software has the capability to specifically state: "Mr. Bush, Mr. Herman Munster (addresslookup="1313 Mockingbird Lane") (partylookup="Republican, registered") was watching your speech at 7:05PM but did not have the audio on when we tweedled the audience at 7:09. As a matter of fact, we discovered that he switched to the Gore broadcast on CBS at 7:14PM. At 7:19, our call center tried his house but got his answering machine, so we've scheduled the door-to-door people to stop by his house on Wednesday evening. According to his scanner report, he has scanned Winston cigarettes (productcategory=POLITICAL, product=WINSTON CARTON), so we'll hit him with Gore's zero-smoking-tolerance plans for national parks. Don't worry, sir, we'll have him voting Republican by Friday."
It's just information flow, really. Do you want to see it happen this way?
John
The Church of the SubGenius [subgenius.com] -- because somebody had to put all that slack in there...
Re:Dyking the wire (Score:2)
I mean, honestly, what do I care that when I buy some groceries they can link that to Herman Munster at 1313 Mockingbird lane, etc?
Just apply for many discount cards and pick a random one. When you've used one almost enough to allow them to come up with a shopper-profile, even if for a fake identity, throw it away and make another.
Re:SLASHDOT ARE VIOLATING MY PRIVACY!!!! (Score:4)
Yes, Dodger, we know everything about you now, including that little pants-wetting episode when you were in kindergarten that you thought everyone forgot but was entered in your *permanent record* and is accessible to anyone who knows the serial number of your Intel PII and has a barcode scanner.
</humor>
- Robin
Re:Big differences, big dangers (Score:2)
---- ----
Re:DC Lets you opt out of ID 'feature' (Score:2)
If they do in fact delete you from the database before you have ever scanned ANYTHING, then they have no data to sell and no way to collect the data. If they don't, you sue them for big bucks, or the FCC fines them for big bucks.
Just have yourself deleted BEFORE they change their policy. Otherwise, even if you have cut the wire, they may still have some data about you in their database, such as your IP address.
Re:I already have something for that... (Score:2)
Re:Digital Demographics (Score:3)
For the moment, let's assume D.C. is not totally without clue, and that they are capable of reading the many Slashdot postings, and have been following many of the hacking pages. (No extra jokes about the size of this assumption -- as they say on Wall Street, "past performance is no guarantee of future performance.") They're obviously concerned, if they haven't yet thrown in the hacker towel.
The question is: What should they do about all of this rogue analysis?
I see a couple alternatives for them:
- Do nothing. By doing nothing, they acknowledge that "unregistered users may use their database." They still capture some demographic info: product scanned & IP address, notably. It won't be tied to a specific user as well as the scanner ID, and it won't give them the name / gender / zipcode stuff they might want, but it's still valuable data as to "how much" is their scanner being used.
- Block access to invalid serial numbers. It sounds like their desktop software is already complaining if it receives a "bad" serial number from a modified scanner. Their server could also perform such a check. Their server optionally could lookup the scanner number on a table, making sure that it's in a range of devices actually produced and not something like zero.
- Block access to invalid activation codes. Their server could be modified to reject requests from activation codes that are not found on the database. This might have performance implications on their end, as well as denying themselves their free (as in beer) demographics.
Before D.C. runs off to implement 2 and 3 above, I would like to point out that both of these denial methods will be circumvented by hackers within an hour of being implemented.A cursory glance at the serial numbers in a couple of units (as well as data gleaned from the web) shows that the serial number does not seem to incorporate any kind of checksum, so any random number passed by a browser would probably work today. However, their client software could be set up to reject scanner input coming from a modified scanner. Why do this? Mostly to annoy the people who went out and cut the trace to the ID chip. Of course, these people will simply go to Radio Shack and pick up another scanner, costing D.C. more money, but they could. At least they could claim their software won't be party to any hardware hacking.
The activation code would be the tough one for a hacker to derive. First, they could use something like a doubly-signed MD5 signed activation code. Take the activation code (aaa...a) and sign it with a key they'd be willing to hide in their Windows client software (SSSS). Then, sign the whole aaa...aSSSS with a secretly held key (kkkk) known only to their servers.
key format: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaSSSSkkkk
The client application can check the value SSSS to see if the activation code being entered was created by D.C. (or forged by someone who disassembled their code.) This would stop the casual AOL user from typing in all zeros for the activation code. The server, however, would be the ultimate arbiter of who gets served, and could be set to only honor requests from Officially Signed activation codes..
This one actually has an interesting side effect that could be a 'benefit' for D.C. -- if they consistently received an unissued activation code that was signed, but the server signature is not valid, they might use that as evidence that the code is coming from someone who has circumvented their program's activation code, violating the DMCA in the process. "Lookee here Miz Reno, we caught us a hacker!" The truly insidious part of this plot is that they could institute it immediately (as soon as the software is ready.) I am assuming that a company that avoids enough ethics to inform their users of the marketing purposes behind their "free" (as in beer) scanner would already have their software set up to perform automatic "upgrades" to itself. They download new software, generate new doubly signed activation codes, and wait for the flies to be drawn to their website.
So, the hackers will be reduced to using other peoples' activation codes. Not the end of the world for them, as long as they're not personally being tracked, kind of like using your mom's Grocery Shopper Saver barcoded keytag. Someone will eventually post a couple to the web, the "hackers" will pounce on them, and D.C. will shut them down until the next round is posted.
The final analysis? Going down the "denial" path means a never ending circle of hacker harrassment that NEVER ADDS A DIME TO D.C.'s BOTTOM LINE. I emphasize that because any countermeasures taken by D.C. can't actually gain them any more revenue or extra users, but only serve to embroil them in expensive lawsuits that some high-school kid will never pay in his lifetime anyway. Allowing the hacked units to continue to use their database gives them MOST of the demographic data they originally intended to collect. (Privacy wonks can still use the anonymizer to get their data if they're really paranoid, but most hackers using dialups are fine letting sites like this see their temporary IP address. It's effectively anonymous enough.)
I hope D.C. doesn't feel the need to wage war upon its "extra" customers. They already can't "win" it if they choose to fight, but they can certainly "lose" it.
John
The Church of the SubGenius [subgenius.com] -- because somebody had to put all that slack in there...
How gullible do they think people are? (Score:3)
"There is a unique ID within the CueCat so that we can see that some Cats came from Forbes and some came from Wired," said Dave Mathews, vice president of new product development at DigitalConvergence. "(But) individualized serial numbers are not designed to track individual behavior."
If all you want to track is whether a Cat came from Forbes/Wired/RadioShaft then you don't need a unique ID for each Cat. A simple (Forbes = 1 : Wired = 2 : RS = 3) ID is all that is necessary. All Forbes users would have an ID of 1, etc., and now there are no privacy concerns. I'm sorry, but these guys are inept from top to bottom: business model, data security, and PR. Everyone jump on FuckedCompany.com for this one, because DC probably won't last the year.
Dyking the wire (Score:3)
Also, by using the Free drivers the ID is effectively disabled. I assume that DC was much more pissed about their data collection scheme being circumvented by the Linux software than by their 'Intellectual Property' being stolen.
Unfortunatly, a lot of companies collect such data (IE, blockbuster card, stop+shop discount card). Whenever you let someone identify you with a number for your own convenience your privacy is at risk.
Re:"Windows" as a trademark (Score:2)
They're perfectly legal and make life easier.
I crack *all* my software. Even the annoying stuff like Q3 that has a serial number, well at least I don't have to have the CD in the drive as well.
Re:What's this We Stuff White Man? (Score:2)
You know, writing the software to sort and arrange the data from supermarket cards would be ammusing. Hmmm, I don't like Brand X because they're affiliated with Brand Evil, so a random percentage of their sales will appear to be from Brand Y instead...
Just do something subtle, pepsi selling less than coke, colgate less than crest, etc.
If you dislike the store, show the brands that don't sell as being high-sellers. If you don't like one of the companies, show their products as not selling, etc.
Show weird combos like tampons and porno mags and tequila always selling together.
Yah but, who cares? (Score:2)
- grocery store buying habits(shopper cards)
- web page demographics
- TV viewing habits(for ratings)
- email being scanned by the company you work for
- Web pages filtered at work and soon to come, libraries
so this is all considered normal and okay by most poeple. CueCat and things like it are just the next step. Poeple in general like being counted, if you give them a good reason to use it, they don't care what ramifications there are. I still use a shoppers card because it supposedly saves me money, I let web sites save cookies on my computer because I like reading the info on the site.
So if you give poeple a reason to use the CueCat(for example we will only show you comercials and news stories based on what you are interested in) then they wont care how much info they take from them.
We are fighting a losing battle here. Yes DC approached it stupidly, but this will happen sooner than later because the mass public doesn't care.
Customization of the world = loss of privacy
Re:Digital Demographics (Score:2)
Ok, I'll make a Javascript popup on my page, (by click only, not an auto-popup) that people with similar tastes in music, books, and products can use to register their support of an item.
Click the button, let the DC webpage load, then kill it. You've just registered one vote for the continued existance of whatever product or service you scanner.
Best yet, after salting the DC database with these false hits, and recording evidence of it, you simply release this evidence to the public (in a slashdot posting and email to a few tech correspondents) and show that DCs demographics are largely false. Nobody will want to buy demographic information that has been tampered with, its value will drop to zero and DC will have nothing.
So we just wait for their privacy policy for change, or for them to start taking people to court. When they do, we ruin them. Until then, we use them to promote products we like without having to actually go and buy multiples of our favorite CDs, etc.
I don't know what the fuss is about (Score:3)
Re:DC Lets you opt out of ID 'feature' (Score:2)
And the problem with opting out of using the 'cat with their website was what again?????
If you picked up the scanner for some other purpose besides scanning Radio Shack catalogs or Wired/Forbes magazines, then why not opt out of the database?
Even if you registered at Radio Shack under some other name, they still would be able to link your IP address (and therefor your ISP) to your particular scanner.
All I'm saying is that disabling the scanner mechanically isn't a fool proof solution since DC would still have your data. Even if you threw them in SF Bay as was mentioned, they still would have your data (albeit likely falsified) in their database, so why NOT take them up on their offer to delete it?
My Privacy Guidelines (Score:2)
When Radio Shack asks for your name, say 'Sorry, you don't need to know it.'. If they have a problem with that, leave the store immediately.
Same with any other store. Use discretion of course...
When a website asks you for anything, even your email address, ask yourself why they need it. If it's to mail you a 'password' to the site, perhaps they do need it. Perhaps not.
Also, you can set up (though for most this won't help) a mail server in several ways so that you can receive mail on multiple accounts, so you can tell what's what.
For instance, this morning, I got this. now I KNOW the asshole snagged the address form slashdot...
Received: from senda2.ari.es (senda2.ari.es [194.224.88.143])
by martini.rgaindustries.com (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian/GNU) with ESMTP id BAA31476
for ; Thu, 21 Sep 2000 01:05:09 -0700
From: nile333@kadet.co.uk
Received: from gnr.net (unknown [194.224.88.69])
by senda2.ari.es (Postfix) with SMTP
id 3AD17290C4; Thu, 21 Sep 2000 05:22:37 +0200 (CEST)
To: nile333@kadet.co.uk
Subject: So, How in the heck have you been?
Message-Id:
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000 05:22:37 +0200 (CEST)
So, How in the heck have you been?
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you
COPY ALL INFORMATION, every name and address, ACCURATELY!
STEP #3. Take this entire letter, including the modified list of names,
and save it to your computer. Make NO changes to these instructions. Now
you
are ready to use this entire e-mail to send by e-mail to prospects.
Report #1 will tell you how to download bulk email software and email
address so you can send it out to thousands of people while you sleep!
Remember that 50,000+ new people are joining the internet every month!
Your cost to participate in this is practically nothing ( surely you can
afford $20 and initial bulk mailing cost). You obviously already have a
computer and an Internet connection and e-mail is FREE! There are two
primary methods of building your downline: METHOD #1: SENDING BULK
E-MAIL
let's say that you decide to start small, just to see how it goes, and
we'll
assume you and all those involved email out only 2,000 programs each.
Let's
also assume that the mailing receives a 0.5% response. The response
could be
much better. Also, many people will email out thousands of thousands of
programs instead of 2,000 (Why stop at 2000?) But continuing with this
example, you send out only 2,000 programs. With a 0.5% response, that is
only 10 orders for REPORT #1. Those 10 people respond by sending out
2,000
programs each for a total of 20,000. Out of those 0.5%, 100 people
respond
and order REPORT #2.Those 100 mail out 2,000 programs each for a total
of
200,000. The 0.5% response to that is 1,000 orders for REPORT #3. Those
1,000 send out 2,000 programs each for a 2,000,000 total. The 0.5%
response
to that is 10,000 orders for REPORT #4. That's 10,000 $5 bills for you.
CASH!!! Your total income in this example is $50 + $500 + $5000 +
$50,000
for a total of $55,550!!!
REMEMBER FRIEND, THIS IS ASSUMING 1,990 OUT OF THE 2,000 PEOPLE YOU MAIL
TO
WILL DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AND TRASH THIS PROGRAM! DARE TO THINK FOR A
MOMENT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF EVERYONE, OR HALF SENT OUT 100,000 PROGRAMS
INSTEAD OF 2,000. Believe me, many people will do just that, and more!
METHOD #2 PLACING FREE ADS ON THE INTERNET Advertising on the internet
is very, very inexpensive, and there are HUNDREDS of FREE places to
advertise. Let's say you decide to start small to see how well it works.
Assume your goal is to get ONLY 10 people to participate on your first
level. (Placing a lot of FREE ads on the Internet will EASILY get a
larger
response). Also assume that everyone else in YOUR ORGANIZATION gets only
10
downline members. Look how this small number accumulates to achieve the
STAGGERING results below:
1St level your first 10 send you $5........................$50
2nd level 10 members from those 10 ($5 x 100)............$500
3rd level 10 members from those 100 ($5 x 1,000)......$5,000
4th level 10 members from those 1,000 ($5 x 10,000)..$50,000
$$$$$$ THIS TOTALS
-----------------------------------------------
$$$$$
AMAZING ISN'T IT Remember friends, this assumes that the people who
participate only recruit 10 people each. Think for a moment what would
happen if they got 20 people to participate! Most people get 100's of
participants and many will continue to work this program, sending out
programs WITH YOUR NAME ON THEM for years! THINK ABOUT IT!
People are going to get emails about this plan from you or somebody else
and
many will work this plan the question is Don't you want your name to be
on
the emails they will send out?
*** DON'T MISS OUT !!!***
***JUST TRY IT ONCE !!!***
***SEE WHAT HAPPENS !!!***
***YOU'LL BE AMAZED !!!***
ALWAYS PROVIDE SAME DAY SERVICE ON ALL ORDERS! This will guarantee that
the e-mail THEY send out with YOUR name and address on it will be prompt
because they can't advertise until they receive the report!
GET STARTED TODAY: PLACE YOUR ORDER FOR THE FOUR REPORTS NOW. Note:--
ALWAYS SEND $5 CASH (U.S. CURRENCY) FOR EACH REPORT. CHECKS NOT
ACCEPTED.
Make sure the cash is concealed by wrapping it in two sheets of paper.
On
one of those sheets write:
(a) the number & name of the report you are ordering
(b) your e-mail address, and
(c) your name & postal address.
REPORT #1b The Insider's Guide to Advertising for Free on the Internet
ORDER REPORT #1 FROM:
NICK NICHOLAS
473 MICHIGAN ST
ST.PAUL, MN 55102
NOTE: I and every member below are dedicated at helping you with this
program so it will work for you also. TRY US!
REPORT #2 The Insider's Guide to Sending Bulk E-Mail on the Internet
ORDER REPORT #2 FROM:
DIANE COLON
1811 TAMARIND AVE # 206
LOS ANGELES, CA. 90028
REPORT #3 The Secrets to Multilevel Marketing on the Internet
ORDER REPORT #3 FROM:
MELISSA HOGENMILLER
3709 MONHEIM ROAD
CONOVER, WI 54519
REPORT #4 How to become a Millionaire utilizing the Power of Multilevel
Marketing and the Internet
ORDER REPORT #4 FROM:
CATHY BARROW
10 SYCAMORE STREET
CONWAY, SC 29527
*************TIPS FOR SUCCESS***************
TREAT THIS AS YOUR BUSINESS! Be prompt, professional, and follow the
directions accurately. Send for the four reports IMMEDIATELY so you
will have them when the orders start coming in because: When you
receive a $5 order you MUST send out the requested product/report.
It is required for this to be a legal business and they need the
reports to send out their letter (with your name on them).
--ALWAYS PROVIDE SAME-DAY SERVICE ON THE ORDERS YOU RECEIVE. Be
patient and persistent with this program- If you follow the
instructions exactly results WILL FOLLOW. $$$$
************ YOUR SUCCESS GUIDELINES ***************
Follow these guidelines to guarantee your success: If you don't receive
20 orders for REPORT #1 within two weeks, continue advertising or
sending
e-mail until you do. Then a couple of weeks later you should receive at
least 100 orders for REPORT #2. If you don't continue advertising or
sending
e-mail until you do. Once you have received 100 or more orders for
REPORT
#2, YOU CAN RELAX, because the system is already working for you, and
the
cash will continue to roll in! THIS IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER: Every
time
your name is moved down on the list, you are placed in front of a
DIFFERENT
report. You can KEEP TRACK of your PROGRESS by watching which report
people
are ordering from you. To generate more income, simply send another
batch of
e-mails or continue placing ads and start the whole process again! There
is
no limit to the income you will generate from this business! Before you
make
your decision as to whether or not you participate in this program.
Please
answer one question:
ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR PRESENT INCOME OR JOB?
1. If the answer is no, then please look at the following facts about
this super simple MLM program: NO face to face selling, NO meetings, NO
inventory! NO Telephone calls, NO big cost to start! Nothing to learn,
No skills needed! (Surely you know how to send email?)
2. No equipment to buy you already have a computer and internet
connection so you have everything you need to fill orders!
3. You are selling a product which does NOT COST ANYTHING TO PRODUCE OR
SHIP! (Email copies of the reports are FREE!)
4. All of your customers pay you in CASH! This program will change your
LIFE FOREEVER!! Look at the potential for you to be able to quit your
job and live a life of luxury you could only dream about! Imagine
getting out of debt and buying the car and home of your dreams and
being able to work a super-high paying leisurely easy business from
home!
$$$ FINALLY MAKE SOME DREAMS COME TRUE! $$$ ACT NOW!
Take your first step toward achieving financial independence. Order
the reports and follow the program outlined above __ SUCCESS will be
your reward.
Thank you for your time and consideration. PLEASE NOT: If you need
help with starting a business, registering a business name, learning
now income tax is handled, etc., contact your local office of the
Small Business Administration (A Federal Agency) 1-800-827-5722
for free help and answers to questions. Also the Internal Revenue
Service offers free help via telephone and free seminars about
business tax requirements. Your earnings are highly dependent on
your activities and advertising. The information contained on this
site and in the report constitutes no guarantees stated nor implied.
In the event that it is determined that this site or report
constitutes a guarantee of any kind, that guarantee is now void. The
earnings amounts listed on this site and in the report are estimates
only. If you have any questions of the legality of this program,
contact the Office of Associate Director for Marketing Practices,
Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Consumer Protection in
Washington DC.
Under Bill s.1618 TITLE III passed by the 105th US Congress this
letter cannot be considered spam as long as the sender includes
contact information and a method of removal. This is a one time
e-mail transmission. No request for removal is necessary.
Re:How to disable cuecat id? (Score:3)
--
Re:How Microsoft can use this (Score:3)
DC Lets you opt out of ID 'feature' (Score:3)
Wouldn't this be easier than hacking the hardware? The FTC has been pretty good about holding websites to their privacy policies, so assuming DC provides a way it can be independently verified, this sounds like a simple option.
Look who's talking. (Score:4)
Just goes to show how corruptly curious companies are getting this day in age.