Posted on 02/20/2015 5:26:47 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Source: Sovereignman Blog
File this under ‘you can’t make this stuff up.’
Lenovo Group, the largest computer manufacturer in the world, has made a rather stunning admission that they have been pre-installing tracking software on their PCs.
The tracking software is made by a company called Superfish, which apparently paid some “very minor compensation” to Lenovo for putting the software on people’s computers.
The Superfish program is a total disaster.
It has image recognition algorithms which essentially monitor what a user is looking at… then suggests relevant ads based on what it thinks you might like.
This is not only REALLY high up on the creepy scale, it also completely destroys Internet security.
Whether you’re buying something online or accessing Internet banking, the Superfish program essentially cuts the secure link between you and sensitive websites that you’re trying to access.
According to the first user who found the vulnerability a few weeks ago, “[Superfish] will hijack ALL your secure web connections (SSL/TLS) by using self-signed root certificate authority, making it look legitimate to the browser.”
This means that the tracking software basically fools a web browser into believing that a connection is secure when it’s not… all for the purpose of pushing more ads in your face.
This scheme is so powerful that even if users uninstall the Superfish software, the security breach still remains.
This is so flagrant I have to imagine that even the NSA is shocked.
After its initial approach of being completely unapologetic and dismissal, Lenovo is now groveling for forgiveness.
The company’s Chief Technology Officer now says, “We messed up badly here,” and “We made a mistake.”
Duh. But untold amounts of consumers out there have been totally violated.
There are a few interesting points to make here–
1) Privacy isn’t dead. But it’s extremely difficult to maintain. There are so many forces out there trying to pry whatever little privacy remains from us, one has to fight tooth and nail to preserve it.
2) There’s no transparency in the system; we never really know what’s going on behind the scenes with big institutions.
Governments and politicians will lie to our faces. They’ll tell us to be excited and that everything is fine; then behind the scenes they’ll plan for capital controls and huge tax increases.
No one has any idea what kind of toxic crap banks have on their balance sheets. They’ll post record profits and tell us how successful they are. But internally they know that it’s only a matter of time before they collapse (as we saw in 2008).
Even major tech brands are betraying the public in the dark of night with crazy spyware or selling us all out to government agencies.
There are very few, if any, big institutions out there that we can trust anymore.
And maybe that’s how it should be.
It’s a shark-filled world with bad people who do bad things. Perhaps it’s all the better that a trusted brand becomes the poster child for betrayal.
Because if Lenovo is doing this, are we supposed to be so naïve to presume that Google, Apple, AT&T, etc. are not?
Question everything.
It does on mine and it's a new HP Envy. And I run AdBlock Plus to no avail.
Too old.
that they have been pre-installing tracking software on their PCs.
It is far worse than tracking software - most of the internet retailers use tracking software. What the Chicoms were putting on their machines was much, much worse than a tracking program.
This has been going on for quite a while. My wife bought me some work boots on line the other day. Every time we go online there are shoe ads all over the place. That’s just one example.
“You are being watched” all the time. And not just by your computer. Your cell phone is even more invasive.
I believe ALL the major search engines have already done such long before the Lenovo thing.
I got friends who use their smartphones when they go out to shop and do in store comparisons and such on what they are looking for. Both Apple and Android users have reported Adds for the things they looked for will show up on Facebook when they use their laptops and they never did the search for such items except on their phones and never used Facebook on the phones while while they shopped. We've checked this many times over a course of several months. Bing and Google and Yahoo search all do the same things as far as the adds showing up on Facebook etc.
I've never tried it with my phone yet because I rarely go out to shop and just got my phone shortly before Christmas.
Isn’t it funny how sales of tin foil have plummeted over the past few years.
Yes. Try it. Look for anything to buy then pay attention to the ads that show up on pages such as yahoo.
My lap top was purchased in 2003 and the ads show up on it, too.
Two way communication TV was invented back in the late 80s.
No more ads!
I haven’t seen any ads. I use adblockplus which is supposed to block ads.
As an additional factor, note that Lenovo initially lied about the dates when they put this software on their machines. When they were caught in that lie, they came up with new dates. No telling what they are lying about at this point.
Their leadership has a proven lack of integrity.
My wife and several friends have been “playing” the Publisher’s Clearing House game for a few weeks. They have our phone numbers. None of us ever gave our phone numbers when we signed up.
If you want to see something really scary do a search for your name and pictures. For example, search for “John Smith (use your real name) photos” and see what comes up.
Yeah for years the tinfoil hat guys told us that the Gub'ment was monitoring everything we do. Then Snowden proves it with his Secret NSA document leak and few USA citizens seem at all worried about the Constitutional Subversion by our Gub'ment and instead are bent on seeing Snowden Hang.
There are so-called Conservatives right on this site who want Snowden killed. Myself I want the guys who green-lighted that system hung from lamp-posts and I don't care if it was Republicans or Democrats or the POPE, they should hang!
it doesn't stop the tracking though it just stops the adds showing on your screen.
Come to think of it, the AdBlock worked like a charm on my Toshiba -- until the motherboard fried and I hastily ran to BestBuy to get this HP. AdBlock has never blocked ads on the HP.
Ghostery allows you to analyze and selectively block tracking.
https://www.ghostery.com/en/how-it-works
“Crossing Lenovo off of my prospective list of laptops for the next few years, if not forever.”
My wife bought one last year and has had real problems with what appeared to be pop-up related virus. Cost $100 plus to correct, much better but still not right.
I agree with you. Snowden is a patriot. If this country survives there should be monuments to him all over America. In fact, put his face on Mt. Rushmore.
Sadly, what he said he feared most has happened. People simply don’t care.
If you do a successful search on Google how would it stop your IP from being tracked? Google has to send the info to your IP or you don't get a successful search.
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