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  • Pifts.exe

    http://community.norton.com/norton/b...hread.id=39123
    http://www.tech-linkblog.com/2009/03...piftsexe.html/
    http://pifts.blogspot.com/

    The gist:
    - Last night a bunch of people using Norton Antivirus got a red flag from a file called "pifts.exe" that was trying to access the internet.
    - A few people asked on the Norton messageboards what the file was all about.
    - The messages were deleted
    - More messages were created. News started to spread outside of the Norton community.
    - More messages were deleted. New threads were barred from creation if they contained the word "pifts". Users enquiring about the file were banned. The news starts trickling into the blogosphere. Google results for "pifts.exe" jump from 2 to ~25,000.
    - HOURS LATER /g/ (4chan) gets wind of this, begins to break the file apart. /b/ finds out and a mass Anon flood ensues.
    - Messages start being deleted from Norton's partner sites (like yahoo answers.)
    - Third party sniffers realize the program scrapes information from the Temporary Internet folder and Google desktop, among other things, and "phones home" - sending the information to a SwapDrive server in the Eastern USA.
    - Norton releases an official statement hours and hours later. They say the file was accidentally "unsigned" (hence the flag), and merely collects version information to check server load and encourage people to update their products. They blame the forum censorship on the flood of spam by /b/.

    Discussion points:
    What responsibility does a company have to its userbase to provide timely and detailed information?

    When we agree to use "protection" software, do we also agree to whatever that software 'thinks' will protect us?

    Is Spam a legitimate tool for users who want to be heard?


    Now, I don't use Norton, but something is way too fishy about this whole situation. Though I don't have a big enough tinfoil hat to call Magic Lantern on this thing, I definitely take offence to a company in direct competition with Google scraping their applications for user information. I also value my privacy enough that the whole thing makes me itch. On Norton's end, I feel like they as a company have failed spectacularly. They have a choke on the market as it is, with their impossible-to-remove-but-always-pre-installed software: It's like a virus unto itself in some ways.

    Someone on /g/ brought up the possibility that the .exe being unsigned might not have been a mistake on Norton's part, but rather a whistleblowing attempt by an employee. Either way, the whole situation reeks of dishonesty.

    As for the /b/ raid... Earlier I thought that may have ruined everything, as Norton blamed all wrongdoing on the raiders. Thankfully, though, most were smart enough to see the scapegoat and many people called Norton on the blatant lie. Not that administrators caught lying by the public has been much use in the past, it's still good to know that this sort of dishonesty and corporate whitewashing is going to give them a painful kick in their bottom line.

    edit: Google results as of this edit for "pifts.exe": ~386,000,000
    Last edited by Jacq; March 11, 2009, 01:59:54 AM. Reason: addiitional info
    I would EAT THE HELL outta that steak, then try to guilt the cow into dying just for being a cow. I'd be all "NOM NOM HEY COW YOU'RE NOT MEAT YET WHAT GIVES JERK" and then I'd glare and give it the silent treatment. Same goes for pigs and chickens... I would guilt a FLOCK of chickens into poultrycide in a heartbeat. "HEY YOU'RE A CHICKEN HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT"- Madhatte
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