Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Removing Chrome Spying Activity



Chrome is interesting fast browser (well, starts fast), but it has enough attraction that will probably begin to lure people.

The problem is that while Google touts it as a "Safe Browser" that is only stopping others from malicious and unethical activity - but not unethical activity that Google does itself.

This is like a neighbor getting your mail, opening it up for you, checking that it doesn't have any anthrax, but also records who send it, why, what information it had to sell to others, and then before it gives the mail to you, it will re-seal the letters as if it was never open.

Well, there are a number of things you can do to remove the spying. One will require you to rebuild Chrome.

Under Wrench | Options | General

Click the Default Search Manage option and unclick

  [_] Use a suggestion service to help complete searches.....

Under Wrench | Options | Under the Hood, turn off the following options:

  [_] Help Make Chromium Better........

  [_] Show Suggestions for navigation

  [_] Use DNS Pre-Fetching ...........

  [_] Enable Phishing and malware protection

For Cookie Settings use

  [Restrict how third-party cookies can be used]


This will stop all by one last call home spy ware feature.

The last one requires a recompile of the Chrome source code.  Add a single line of code in the c/c++ file:

    File: src\chrome\browser\url_fetch.cc
    Function: function StartUrlRequest()

void URLFetcher::Core::StartURLRequest()  {
DCHECK(MessageLoop::current() == io_loop_);
DCHECK(!request_);

return; // <--- STOP SPY WARE

request_ = new URLRequest(original_url_, this);
....
}


Adding the return statement will stop all unsolicited background call home, monitoring done by Google.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Google Chrome - Open SPYWARE



Folks, as much as I admire Google, we need to be careful with what Google is done with their new browser - Chrome.

It is effectively Google "Spy ware" and attempt to take control of the user' PC, oops, I mean "device" in the same with Apple has done with iPhone.

I will have more to say on this, but I believe its time we need to get an organization that will help put a STOP to the rampant unethical practice of installing software that collects, spies and sends info to centralized systems, and also takes control of what you install.

People need to call/contact the FCC, FTC, state senators.

More to come...

Friday, February 22, 2008

Poison Pills: The death of DKIM SSP



For those who remember the classic ending in Planet Of the Apes, where Heston finally realizes he never left earth seeing the crumbled Statue of Liberty sticking out of the beach sand, he cries in despair:

"They finally did it! Oh no! Those Bastards finally did it!"

Its exactly how I felt when the DKIM working group was commandeered by a handful of business related concerns to finally destroy the DKIM SSP protocol proposal.

The way they did it was nothing short of a brilliant strategy in injecting a poison pill.

For awhile there, it seemed the momentum was on the side of SSP. The SSP-01 specification was making sense, developers began to feel confidence to implement it feeling there was no way in hell, it will change much more.

But all of sudden BANG - a competitive [draft] specification called ASP was introduce - a poison pill. ASP was so BAD, it is fairly obvious no one will use it.

But the ASP group was powerful enough to get the SSP authors to rewrite their own SSP specification with nearly all the same content!! It made you wonder WHO copied WHO!  [ASP was renamed ADSP as a proposed standard RFC 5617 https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5617]

ASP is so bad, not even the ASP principal author is supporting it for his new Reputation $$$$ business services. It's not part of the VBR specification!. You wonder why? Well, anything SSP-related would water down his VBR system. Most systems would simply not need this REPUTATION service.

In some way, I am happy it happen. Now I can move on. The ASP people should be given credit for killing SSP. I just wonder if they have enough sleeping pills on hand - they are going to need it.

Post Note:

It is now April 4. 2023. I am hoping to resurrect ATPS [RFC 6541 https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6541] as an add-on for the DKIM Policy protocols ADSP and DMARC which also provides a reporting mechanism.  Updating ATPS to piggyback off the ADSP or DMARC record lookup.  DNS-based Mail Security applications have grown since this post in 2008; SPF, DKIM, ADSP, replaced by DMARC are the SMTP DNS lookup overhead expected by receivers in the name of Sender/Author Domain Email Security (SADES).

Liar! Liar! Pant on fire! Clemens Busted!



Roger "Steroid Dodger" Clemens is busted!

If the new photos of Roger at this Canseco party isn't enough to prove this big bum is a freaking liar, I don't know what else is. Who needs the DNA results from this needle shots up his a-hole? Anyone who think this guy is telling the truth about not using steroids must also believe O.J. never chopped up his wife! Whats wrong with you people!

Just in case anyone is asking why Clemens would lie in our faces, I need only to say two words: PETE ROSE!!