Who is searching for what?

[Lance]

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now maybe i'm just paranoid, but it seems to me that all these new desktop search engines from Google, Microsoft, etc. are the greatest spyware tool in the history of international corporate exploitation.
why in the hell would i want one of these programs on my, repeat MY, computer having full access to every file i've ever downloaded, knowing every internet site where i've ever been, every picture i've ever looked at, every music file i've ever downloaded, and claiming it was doing mE a service. i already know all that stuff without having a desktop search engine. just who is benefitting from these programs? who is searching for what?

and what do they want with it?
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[Rapier Racer]

I asked myself the same quesiton when I saw the msn desktop search advert, what’s the point? Immediately the word spyware sprung to mind as you said we know where things are on our own PC’s and there is already the build in search option if you need it.

Maybe these programs have a really advanced way of stealing information,

[Shem]

hmm, that's a good one Lance. But consider this - if anyone has the opportunity to invigilate your privacy, there must be someone to examine the things that are in your interest eg. the web sites, the files you download. Would that kind of person have their own life? There's enough information about you, considering that desktop search engines are actually a good source of information of you, that all the information would take years to examine. it's just like living someone elses life. Thus i don't seem to find the reason for doing so.

[Lance]

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accumulated data found by the ''desktop search engine' could be automatically, logged, compiled and analysed and distributed to potential exploiters by a computer program. no live human operatives would be needed beyond the original software development stage
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[Shem]

heh, it seems it turned out that I'm being paranoid about the info leak out to some random ppl. I think that, because i was thinking about some kind of dark vision of ppl having a full control over our lives, just by knowing what we like, what we listen to, what we like to watch, read, play (heh), participate in....Obviously, that kind of info may be a good source for advertisement companies for them to send SPAM mail to ppl. Hell, isn't that what's happening right now? That is unharmfull to ppl, but it's annoying enough for us to notice it. Anyway, considering it being performed at a massive scale, that kind of info can show the preferences of ppl, wether it comes to age, sex, location. Basicly, if supplied by that kind of info, and willing to see how masses react on different issues (let's say, mcDonalds), you can use ppl as a living animal to experiment on. TV ad's, food, drink, test the way that ppl react to these, and reffer to most common reactions of ppl so there will be more customers for certain product. Now isn't that just marketing strategy? It is. But if supplied by information collected from ppl who are giving the info, not even being aware of it - than it is scary! it looks like I'm paranoid AND have a reason to be like that.

[Rapier Racer]

do these programs constanty connect to the internet? if so big risk, come on in mr hacker and help yourself!

[Shem]

Spyware works when you're connected to the internet, and by far only then (as far as i know) it works. But the fact is, that spyware eventhough gatheres info about you and messes up your PC (ever wondered why your homepage changes without your knowledge? think about where you've been surfing the net the other day - that gives a slight idea about that) is the most obvious way hack to your computer, whereas IE itself is so full of holes and backdoors, that any hacker can break in whenever they want to. Talking about Micro$oft products of course. I don't know about any other OS's as i'm stuck with Windows but I have heard that Linux and OSX are much safer than Win's. It's more than possible that they are indeed.

[Rapier Racer]

Would it not just be the same story over again? If Microsoft lost grips on all areas of it’s market and another operating system became the main one that we all used like Linux for example then the nice hackers would just start on that and find all the holes and flaws surely? Same for IE if we were to all start using Firefox or Opera all the losers would turn their attention to it, I don’t understand with all the money MS has why it can’t seem to produce a good product. Do they really have a monopoly? From what I’ve been told their being forced to break up the company

[Shem]

Well, about Linux, the problem is that it's free source OS, so anyone who feels like patching the OS, is free to do so, that's why Linux is safe (reasonably). As for the OSX it's just a matter of number of ppl who use this OS, it's just not a good target for all the 'hackers' around. The monopoly of Micro$oft is based on ppls little knowlegde about other OS's. Same with web browsers. There are many different, and better web browsers around (Firefox, Opera....), but ppl don't know about them, so....ppl think that IE is the ONLY web browser, at least up until they find about other ones. Now, consider the facts - it seems that we are all on the worst position there is - if IE is the most popular web browser, it is easy to attack, because its architecture is as known as popular IE is. If ppl turned to other browsers like Opera (thinking that these browsers are better), they'd become a victim of hacker attacks, because Opera does have it's flaws. Just like you said A.Dev. What's the solution? Use the OS that's not the most popular at the current time? Hell, that's a great idea! But it's not as fabulous if you think about the software that can be run on that OS's. The number of software destined to be working under the most popular OS there is, will always be larger than on any other, alternative OS...That is the pain, and that's why we seem to be on our worst position there is, from the start. Heh.... :?

[jospicy]

i'm still of the oppinion that the desktop search engines were designed for the average lazy user who can't be bothered to type the url in the task bar henci u use none of them :P

[Shem]

:lol:

but isn't that what they expect you to do with desktop search engine? :?: :wink: