Per Öfverbeck writes: This one was new to me: every time you open an Adobe CS3 app, it pings a "behavioural analytics" company, using an address that is deliberately made to look like a local network one: http:// uneasysilence.com/archive/2007/12/12789/ Of course, Adobe tells us how innocent and beneficial it all is: http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2007/12/adobe_ate_me_ba.html Whatever the reason, personally I don´t like it at all! I can understand that!! Adobe, Apple and Sony are right up there with Microsoft for infringing on the rights of computer owners - and even multimillion dollar payouts and fines don't seem to deter offenders from committing illegal acts! As I mentioned before, Sony did it (again!) with their rootkit <http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2005/10/31/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights-management-gone-too-far.aspx> And just as users have to accept an ambiguous and pleasantly worded agreement before playing a Sony CD on their PC (which mentions nothing about the virus they are about to instal!) - Apple users can similarly be hit with illegal trojan software if they do the same on their macs <http://apple.corante.com/archives/2005/11/17/sony_cds_have_mac_malware_too.php> itseems supremely arrogant to me that software authors think it OK that if a user installs software then the company part-owns the computer it's installed on. Oddly it was the major players who petitioned users so strongly about avoiding 'free' programs, scaring them with tales of viruses and hidden nasties that went along with anything free.. when now it is the big companies who are indulging in so much of what they once warned against "trust us" they said, "we will look after you" no. now it's the small authors, often of other related software who are writing the 'safer' (and cleaner coded faster) software .. and giving it away free who are more trustworthy! I've heard of a number of multinational companies and quite a few governemt departments around the world who have dispensed with Acrobat altogether and are user the faster and less intrusive free equivalents. It's becoming a trend as people grow less and less tolerant of all the intrusive fiddling by big software companies .. Another funny thing thats driving people toward the freeware and small company software is the better support people are reporting that they get! Again, quite contrary to the image and promises made by the big players karl
