Peachy Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Never one to speak his mind, John Dvorak explains why Microsoft's Avalanche is a bit suspicious: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1829684,00.asp Simple Lies, Told as Fact. There is no spyware in BitTorrent. There is no way BitTorrent is being tricked into delivering spyware. We hear that BitTorrent files are "infected." What specific to BitTorrent is infected? Is it the BitTorrent initiation files? Or is it the payload? If it's the payload (the media file, for example) then what's it got to to do with BitTorrent per se? Nothing, that's what....The Root of the Accusations. This was all begun by a Microsoft MVP character named Chris Boyd, who is always described as a "renowned" security expert. By whose standards is he renowned? Has he written books? Academic papers? Articles? What exactly besides blogging? So where does this assertion come from? The blog? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeMerc Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Its a real shame Mr. Dvorak didn't bother to take the time to actually read the article by Paperghost. In no way, at any time, does Paperghost insinuate that Bittorent is responsible for anything related to malwares, it was simpley determined to be the biggest mechanism for installation, just as I'm sure other P2P apps are.A poorly written artcile by someone who should be held to a hihger standard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Amen. I have started using BitTorrent protocols a lot lately because of my interest in Podcasting. Everything to do with economical distribution of audio, absolutely nothing to do with rights infringement.Bram's comments on Avalanche are an absolute hoot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 It is unfortunate that as great a technology as Bittorrent is, that it is being used as the vehicle this time. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if certain folks are being provided with incentive to seed these 'rogue' files as was suspected with the other P2P networks.However, it really saddens me to see Dvorak smear the good name of a hardworking and dedicated researcher.Paperghost's response has been graciously provided by TeMerc here on our forums:http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.ph...=0entry151208Thanks TeMerc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epp_b Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Did anyone see M$' PowerPoint Slideshow on this? It's all "ooh, look at this fancy new technology we innovated!" .... :rolleyes:I can't believe they used the most tacky font on the planet, Comic Sans MS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted June 22, 2005 Author Share Posted June 22, 2005 It's unfortunate that Chris Boyd got his name smeared in all this. And I shouldn't have quoted the Chris portion. But let's get back to the point of the column. Is Microsoft running a smear campaign against BitTorrent in order to promote Avalanche? That is the crux of the argument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epp_b Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Isn't that Micro$oft's intent on every project? Smear the competitor, promote their less-than-mediocre product in the nick of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 I think Microsoft is playing the game they always play and playing it to win....as usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epp_b Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 I think Microsoft is playing the game they always play and playing it to win....as usual.<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yeah, except they're the big fat bully who cheats without getting caught... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Yep...as I said ... as usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Unfortunately, big money and big monopoly means you apparently can play the game any way you want ... no matter what it does to anyone else's software or OS.Real shame too ... cuz technically Bittorrent is the cat's meow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epp_b Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 OK, but when they do get caught, they just beat up the squealer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rons Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 OK, but when they do get caught, they just beat up the squealer <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siljaline Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Spyware Floods In Through BitTorrenthttp://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1828633,00.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epp_b Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 No offense, but who cares...BitTorrent is just a medium. So is Internet Explorer. So is Eudora. So is FTP....you get the idea. BitTorrent just happens to make it very easy to transfer files quicly over the Internet, regardless as to whether or not those files contain spyware. It's the operating system (ahem: Windows) with the vulnerabilities. Without the OS (or if the OS was protective against spyware), the spyware would be pointless and, therefore, no longer spyware.You'll notice I'm recurring the point made in the article linked in the topic starting post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 It sickens me to see Bittorrent smeared like other P2P technology just because some folks start making money off it by installing spyware through it or the downloads.Just like P2P/Bittorrent doesn't install spyware, those who make money off their installation install spyware.Just as with any software.And P2P/Bittorrent/VoIP, etc. do have many NON INFRINGING uses ... but they still have tried to destroy the use of these very elegant and very useful technologies.Sad really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrke Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Just curious--I've never used Bittorrent. People choose what they want to download, right? I'm assuming content isn't downloaded without your consent. So if people are choosing to download files with crap in them, isn't that basically the fault of the downloader? I mean, aren't these files by virtue of their format or purported content probably something that could reasonably be looked on as suspicious? Why is this Bittorrent's fault? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted June 25, 2005 Author Share Posted June 25, 2005 Elizabeth,That's exactly Dvorak's point: don't blame the messenger for all the spyware that people download onto their computers. His other claim is that perhaps Microsoft is orchestrating a guerrilla campaign to discredit BitTorrent because, really, that's the biggest competitor to its proposed Avalanche P2P application. He finds it suspicious that the same week Microsoft announces Avalanche, all of a sudden a bunch of bloggers start posting news of "BitTorrent installs spyware" hype. Okay, I'm exaggerating his claim, but that's the gist of his argument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Yes, I agree ... it's not Bittorrent that's at the root of this at all from either stance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeMerc Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 You folks who keep insinuating there is some sort of 'conspiracy' by MS to somehow discredit the quality of Bitoerrent to their advantage need to read a couple of articles, where its ponted out that Avalanche is nothing but an exercise of thought.These 2 links have some explanation as to just what Avalanche is at in regards to development, and some insight into what Chris\Paperghost feel about Bitorrent and P2P in general:http://www.revenews.com/wayneporter/archives/000765.htmlhttp://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1831018,00.aspHow anyone can draw a conclusion that the 2(Paperghost write up & Avalanche\Bitorrent) make up some sort of conspiracy is beyond me. Of course then there is the fact that in positively no place, does Paperghost mention the 2 together on any line in the original article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 The article by Dvorak was about Bittorrent and the files being downloaded that were spyware ridden, and Dvorak did bring up Avalance quite abit in his article.We just took a side note about PaperGhost because it upset us that Dvorak said stuff about PaperGhost in the article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 However, although Dvorak is quick to go after Microsoft regarding the the infested Bittorrent files saying it had something to do with Microsoft's own Avalanche technology ... there really are other very big fish that had even greater things to gain from Bittorrent being discredited and causing folks to feel leary of using it than Microsoft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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