🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <37a44a20.0@pink.one.net.au>,
  pallis@[nospam]one.net.au wrote:
> To All,
>
> I sent an email to Brad, stating what I think of this practice, in
short
> Stardock Systems has lost my business on this issue.  What others do
is
> purely up to them, I'm letting my wallet do the talking.
> They can call it what they want it won't be tolerated not by me any
> way.  Just as well he's in the US in Australia I would be contacting
the
> dept of Fair Trading and Consumer Affairs if Stardock was an
Australian
> Company.
>
> Buyer Beware.
>

  Oh please. Do you play any video games on line? Do you have cookies
on your machine? Do you even know what you're talking about?
WindowBlinds is a Stardock Windows program that changes the GUI of
Windows. It has an optional feature of letting people download the most
popular 'skin' (GUI). It determines this by looking at what skin is
being run. The feature is explicity explained in how it works on
Stardock's website and is completely optional. It's not even on by
default.
   Do you play Stardock's Entrepreneur or Stellar Frontier? They are
games that have a central server for match making. Do you object to
this? So you must boycott all games and most modern programs.
   Before posting a hysterical post like this you should at least try
to find out what you're talking about.


> Subject:
>             Did you know Stardock PERIODICALLY snoopes disk, reports
> back to stardock
>             via internet (was: Re: WinBLIND TROJAN)
>         Date:
>             31 Jul 1999 10:47:27 GMT
>        From:
>             uno@40th.com (uno@40th.com)
>     Reply-To:
>             reply@only.n.news.40th.com
>  Organization:
>             Yanaguana
>   Newsgroups:
>             comp.os.os2.apps, comp.os.os2.misc, comp.os.os2.advocacy
>  Followup-To:
>             comp.os.os2.advocacy
>
> Brad Wardell? (bwardell@stardock.com?) wrote (Fri, 23 Jul 1999
> 09:43:42):
> >Specifically, WindowBlinds sends:
> >
> >The skin you are using - so that we can determine the most popular
skin
> >Your registration code - so monitor software piracy (it is OUR code
> >remember)
> >What OS you are running - websites take your OS info too
> >
> >I think that's about it.  Nothing "secret".  We primarily want to
know what
> >skin you are running.
> >
> >Eventually, our skins page will use this information to determine
the 25
> >most popular skins based on the skins people are running.  I think
that
> >blows away any sort of "rating" system since the ultimate
recommendation a
> >skin can get is by how many people are using it.
> >
> >Brad
>
> TomG wrote:
> >
> > It is 18:27 EST and I can't reach the Stardock site to verify -
apparently their site
> > is down (to update their disclaimers perhaps?).  There has NOT been
anything up
> > front.  I am too sensitive to this particular issue to simply have
not noticed it.  I
> > attach to their servers several times each week to download updates
and I am all over
> > the WindowBlinds configuration control panel - no mention of
snooping at all.  Go to
> > the "About" tab, page down between 40+ times through all the text
and guess what - NO
> > mention of this feature.
> >
> > Privacy statement at the web site?  Well, I must apologize;  I do
not have it
> > memorized but I will go back and analyze it.  However, claiming
that this practice is
> > "No different from other products that send similar information
back at the
> > acquiecence of the user" is no defense.  Moreover, I was
not "asked" - before
> > download, purchase, or at the point of installing the program or
any update, whether
> > or not I would like to turn this feature off.
> >
> > It just smells funny, even if this was not some *intentional*
attempt at hiding the
> > snoop feature.
> >
> > Kris Kwilas wrote:
> >
> > > In article <37A33ADB.40CB0EB2@erols.com>, TomG
<nospam.pendrake@erols.com> wrote:
> > > >seriously, no matter who is doing it or for what purpose.  I was
not made aware
> > > >of the fact that Stardock was snooping and I DO NOT believe that
it should be
> > > >my responsibility to discover it - it should be out in the open
and up-front from
> > > >the vendor.
> > >
> > > WindowBlinds 0.97, the product in question (released yesterday I
might add),
> > > is quite up front about it. It includes the option to disable
sending the
> > > information right from the get go. No different from other
products that send
> > > similar information back at the acquiecence of the user. See the
privacy
> > > statement on www.windowblinds.net if you are interested in more
details.
> > >
> > > No "snooping" is going on.
> > >
> > > Kris
>


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