On 7/5/06 4:55 PM, "mfossi (at) securityfocus (dot) com [email concealed]" <mfossi (at) securityfocus (dot) com [email concealed]>
wrote:
> I've seen two stories today about Apple components phoning home with info
> - one saying Dashboard does it, the other saying Mail.app does as well.
> Has anyone looked into it? If these stories are true, exactly what
> information is being sent back and forth? I'm not currently in an
> environment where I can test either one with my MBP.
>
> Dashboard:
> http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/07/05/dashboard.calls.home/
>
> Mail:
> http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/07/05/mail.phones.home/
>
> Cheers,
> Marc
>
Well, for what it's worth, in the thread at wired.com, one poster said he
tested the dashboard advisor with Ethereal, and -zero- info is sent to
Apple.
Ie: less is sent than what gets transmitted when you use Software Update.
"It periodically checks this file
(http://www.apple.com/widgets/widgetadvisory ) which contains signatures of
known malicious or problematic widgets. If it finds one of these widgets on
your system you system it prompts you to remove the widget from your system
using the widgetadvisory.app.
It fetches the file with a simple HTTP GET and doesn't send any information
to Apple. Apple already knows everything it wants to know about your machine
through Software Update..."
wrote:
> I've seen two stories today about Apple components phoning home with info
> - one saying Dashboard does it, the other saying Mail.app does as well.
> Has anyone looked into it? If these stories are true, exactly what
> information is being sent back and forth? I'm not currently in an
> environment where I can test either one with my MBP.
>
> Dashboard:
> http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/07/05/dashboard.calls.home/
>
> Mail:
> http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/07/05/mail.phones.home/
>
> Cheers,
> Marc
>
Well, for what it's worth, in the thread at wired.com, one poster said he
tested the dashboard advisor with Ethereal, and -zero- info is sent to
Apple.
http://blog.wired.com/cultofmac/?entry_id=1515043&page=2
Ie: less is sent than what gets transmitted when you use Software Update.
"It periodically checks this file
(http://www.apple.com/widgets/widgetadvisory ) which contains signatures of
known malicious or problematic widgets. If it finds one of these widgets on
your system you system it prompts you to remove the widget from your system
using the widgetadvisory.app.
It fetches the file with a simple HTTP GET and doesn't send any information
to Apple. Apple already knows everything it wants to know about your machine
through Software Update..."
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