Samsung caught selling new computers with a keylogger

gimpod

samsung caught selling new computers with a keylogger

Is it 1984 yet!

AsSiMiLaTeD

I was already on the fence with Samsung given how they've handled some issue I've encountered with other devices. This pushes me over the edge, no more Samsung products for me.

Polkersince85

Isn't that a violation of U.S. Federal law?

cokewithvanilla

Samsung CS is terrible. I already chose to never buy another samsung product.... but this is just.. wrong.

I reload all my new laptops right after I remove them from the box... but still, this is beyond sad.

exalted512

Really? How in the world did they think that would not get found and get terrible publicity for?
-Cody

mantis

Samsung can go F themselves. Just another reason why Windows based machines have issues.
There should be laws against any kind of malware or any kind of virus for that matter. Those laws should carry extreme penalties.

mdaudioguy

^^ Yeah, this could NEVER happen with Apple. :rolleyes: Here we go again...

bobman1235

From Engadget :

Samsung's official Korean language blog, Samsung Tomorrow, has a posted an update calling the findings false. According to Samsung, the confusion arose when the VIPRE security software mistakenly identified Microsoft's Slovene language folder ("SL") as Starlogger, which Sammy was able to recreate from an empty c:\windows\SL folder (see image above). So yeah, move along, it's much ado about nothing -- the R525 and R540 laptops are perfectly safe.

Quick, someone find something else to blow out of proportion before the whole story is out.

mdaudioguy

bobman1235 wrote: »

Quick, someone find something else to blow out of proportion before the whole story is out.

Hilarious! No matter, though - some people will never see this part of the story, and will live the rest of their lives loathing Samsung for it!

devani

SORRY to bust your bubbles about Samsung haters, but the people are so gullible and insecure...

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/samsung-keylogger-is-a-gfi-vipre-antivirus-false-positive/12128

http://techland.time.com/2011/03/31/samsung-keylogger-accusation-is-false/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/samsung-keylogger-accusations-prove-false/

nadams

So, did the writer of the initial blog post outright lie? Taking this quote into consideration-

"After initially denying the claims, Samsung admitted to installing StarLogger on new computers to gather customer usage data -- without consent, mind you. It's unclear exactly what data StarLogger is collecting, but a Samsung supervisor said it's used to "monitor the performance of the machine and to find out how it is being used." "

Sounds like Samsung has some s'plainin to do.

bobman1235

Sounds to me like the "Samsung Rep" probably had no idea what they were talking about, so they frantically made something up to cover their ****. Someone asks them "Hey, why are you installing XX?" and rather than say "we're not!" and be caught in a lie they said "well..... you see...." It's what public relations people do.

Either way, judging an entire company on something they probably didn't even do just because some blogger said they did.... yeahhh...

EndersShadow

Turns out it was a false positive (as suggested in the posts above). The anti-malware software used incorrectly identified it as spyware. That folder was actually for the Slovenian language directory for Windows Live. It just happens to the same directory path is used by the StarLogger keylogger.

The software maker has a full article here listing what happened ....Looks like the man isnt out to get us just yet (or if he is he's doing it so quietly we are unaware of it :biggrin:)

bobman1235

Was this not clear when me and someone else BOTH POSTED THE SAME THING ABOVE?

EndersShadow

bobman1235 wrote: »

Was this not clear when me and someone else BOTH POSTED THE SAME THING ABOVE?

At that point it was an opinion not based on hard evidence. So I thought perhaps I would add in the hard evidence to back up your opinion and conclude the discussion.

My apologies for giving out the full and final verdict....next time I will gladly just assume because you and another forum member said it that is must be the god given truth....

bobman1235

I'm not looking for "credit," but your post read like no one had even mentioned that it was false before. "Turns out it was a false positive...."

These kinds of stories happen because no one bothers to read before jumping to conclusions, so I found it amusing / annoying that it seemed you did the same thing.

EndersShadow

bobman1235 wrote: »

I'm not looking for "credit," but your post read like no one had even mentioned that it was false before. "Turns out it was a false positive...."

These kinds of stories happen because no one bothers to read before jumping to conclusions, so I found it amusing / annoying that it seemed you did the same thing.

Edited my first statement so now we can all be happy.

bobman1235

I love you.

cnh

False positive or not; I prefer sending ALL my information to Mark Zuckerberg on ""THE"" FACEBOOK so HE CAN SELL it to everyone else--he 'needs' the money, after all, and is really, really, really, REALLY interested in what brand of Boxers I wear. lol

cnh

Gadabout

We use Vipre anti-virus on the work computers. It certainly isn't the best AV program out there but I'm sure it's one of the cheapest for commercial licensing.

Scott

ryanjoachim

I'm going to go code a program that embeds itself into forums and searches all posts. Every time it finds more than 1 capital letter in a word, it automatically reverts everything after the first letter into lower case.

Sure there'll be a few words that need it (mostly names), but hey...I'm ok with taking the risk.

And yeah, I typically try to wait at least 24 hours before commenting on a "breaking" news report of any type. Especially those with sensationalist titles and content.

bobman1235

ryanjoachim wrote: »

I'm going to go code a program that embeds itself into forums and searches all posts. Every time it finds more than 1 capital letter in a word, it automatically reverts everything after the first letter into lower case.

Sure there'll be a few words that need it (mostly names), but hey...I'm ok with taking the risk.

And yeah, I typically try to wait at least 24 hours before commenting on a "breaking" news report of any type. Especially those with sensationalist titles and content.

Um... have you ever tried typing a post in all caps in Club Polk? It basically does this already.

sucks2beme

nadams wrote: »

So, did the writer of the initial blog post outright lie? Taking this quote into consideration-

"After initially denying the claims, Samsung admitted to installing StarLogger on new computers to gather customer usage data -- without consent, mind you. It's unclear exactly what data StarLogger is collecting, but a Samsung supervisor said it's used to "monitor the performance of the machine and to find out how it is being used." "

Sounds like Samsung has some s'plainin to do.

It's the internet. BS, doubletalk and people with axes to grind are everywhere.
It's a reflection of the people who use it. A North Texas guy started one
for fun in a bar about pirate treasure in Lake Lewisville. It spread all over
like wildfire. The lake is was manmade in the 1930's and is hundreds of miles inland .
Yet there was no shortage of fools who bought into it.
Samsung did nothing wrong. Chalk it up to the folly of men.

ryanjoachim

bobman1235 wrote: »

Um... have you ever tried typing a post in all caps in Club Polk? It basically does this already.

No, I haven't tried typing in all caps...maybe I'll try sometime!

Samsung's gotten a bad rap lately for their hard drives, especially after that firmware fiasco a while back. I've mainly stuck to Maxtor for my mechanical HD's, so I can't say much about Samsung's quality.

WilliamM2

bobman1235 wrote: »

um... Have you ever tried typing a post in all caps in club polk? It basically does this already.

Never noticed that.

WilliamM2

ryanjoachim wrote: »

Samsung's gotten a bad rap lately for their hard drives, especially after that firmware fiasco a while back. I've mainly stuck to Maxtor for my mechanical HD's, so I can't say much about Samsung's quality.

The Samsungs all seem to get good reviews at Newegg. Maxtor was bought out by Seagate years ago, they no longer exist.

cnh

Capital letters? Just who decided and when did they decide that caps are a form of 'screaming'. As an academic this seems like much adieu about nothing, unless, perhaps, everything is capitalized in a post--but only because that wearies the reader.

It's a rather middle-class attitude that we should never raise our voices. Ask a Greek or Italian family how loudly they converse at the dinner table or while preparing their meals? lol I feel like Martin Luther is looking over my shoulder and John Calvin is writing down his 'transgressions' even as ML is scribbling down mine! Ah, I guess I'm from that wrong side of the tracks. No protestant ethic here?

cnh

bobman1235

cnh wrote: »

Capital letters? Just who decided and when did they decide that caps are a form of 'screaming'. As an academic this seems like much adieu about nothing, unless, perhaps, everything is capitalized in a post--but only because that wearies the reader.

It's a rather middle-class attitude that we should never raise our voices. Ask a Greek or Italian family how loudly they converse at the dinner table or while preparing their meals? lol I feel like Martin Luther is looking over my shoulder and John Calvin is writing down his 'transgressions' even as ML is scribbling down mine! Ah, I guess I'm from that wrong side of the tracks. No protestant ethic here?

You'd think as an academic you'd know it's "much ado about nothing," not "much adieu."

And as for who decided about the caps thing, there are lots of conventions that just kind of become accepted. I think most people see a post in all-caps and just naturally read it as screaming. I have a habit of using all caps as emphasis (others use *stars* around *words* instead). It has nothing to do with speaking loudly or any kind of cultural bias (I have no idea what you're even trying to say with that comment, to be honest). It's just ... they're typed words. There needs to be conventions if things are going to be conveyed without vocal inflection or facial tics or all those other things. All caps doesn't mean "speaking loudly," it means "YELLING LIKE A MORON." Sorry if it offends you on some socioeconomic level.

cnh

Pardon my "French", you are of course correct! I'm not offended at some socio-economic level...not at all. I just remember having the same experiences Nia Vardalos had with the Miller family in My BF Greek Wedding. My people were the loudmouths, so portrayed, and the Millers were tight upper lip. I've experienced those contrasts both personally and in my students. The question remains, who decides 'culturally' what the 'conventions' are? That's all.

cnh

mrbigbluelight

cnh wrote: »

I feel like Martin Luther is looking over my shoulder cnh

Actually, Martin Luther was pretty loud himself, and would probably offer you a beer.

cnh wrote: »

The question remains, who decides 'culturally' what the 'conventions' are? That's all. cnh

Until that is determined, I shall assume the role of Minister of Culture and All That is Right and Good, Interim ... uhm .... Ad Litem .... and, uh ... Pro Bono !

Did anyone else notice how the poor Slovenians and their beautiful language were blamed for this false trigger ?
You know who's behind this, don't you ?
Canadians !

Tour2ma

Not sure what was funnier in this thread...

bobman finding love or...

big blue canadian conspiracy theories...