Blubster 2.5 loaded with spyware

[napho]

but it works without it too. And something like AdMuncher gets rid of the advertising box.

http://blubster.net/main1.html

[TheOnlyBob]

I dont know how safe it is to have peoples user names listed in your screen shot. And thanks for the looksy. =-)

[multi]

focus hocus pocus!
forgotten all about that..

[napho]

Originally posted by TheOnlyBob
I dont know how safe it is to have peoples user names listed in your screen shot. And thanks for the looksy. =-)

The companies who work for the RIAA and MPAA are seeing those same names and more when they troll all the p2p programs.

Could Someone tell me where i could find AdMucher. All the sites I tried the download doesnt work. Thank You.

[Dawn]

Originally posted by babiboi9
Could Someone tell me where i could find AdMucher. All the sites I tried the download doesnt work. Thank You.

I have AdMuncher, so I didn't follow thru with the install, but the download went fine from their site for me. (free trial page)

http://www.admuncher.com/download.shtml

[napho]

They say you'll be anonymous. Quite a claim.

June 30, 2003
Ciarán Tannam


There has been growing interest in protecting user identities since the US music industry said they would start suing some of the 60 million American's that share music online. Today Blubster 2.5 was released in the wake of this growing threat. Although some users may have been using 2.5 for the last week or so it has been officially released today.

The key feature in this new release is making the end user anonymous. According to OptiSoft's press release, which was sent to Slyck, "Version 2.5 takes advantage of a streamlined means of distributing large files to dissociate file transfers from specific users".

Pablo, creator of Blubster, added "Other means of delivering media files could be compared to a postal system with an identifiable sender and receiver, then Blubster’s proprietary MP2P network could be likened to throwing a bottled message into the vast ocean".

Other features in this new release include weblinks, improved speed and connectivity.




http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=186

[JackSpratts]

Originally posted by napho

Ciarán Tannam

The key feature in this new release is making the end user anonymous.

personally, i think the key feature in the new release is the spyware delivery device.

http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release...lease_id=54968

- js.

[dingdongding]

this article answers the question is it anonymous- the answer is.....not really

...

Giving Sharers Ears Without Faces


By Xeni Jardin |

02:00 AM Jul. 01, 2003 PT

In response to recent threats to file traders, peer-to-peer developers say they're seeing an upsurge of interest in tools that purport to hide identities.

The pressure comes from the Recording Industry Association of America's announcement Wednesday that it plans to sue hundreds of uploaders, and a recent court ruling requiring Verizon to reveal the names of subscribers accused of piracy.

Blubster developer Pablo Soto of Madrid said his music-swapping service relaunched today as a secure, decentralized system providing users with anonymous accounts.

The MP2P network (short for Manolito Peer-to-Peer) on which Blubster is based consists of more than 200,000 users sharing over 52 million files, according to Soto. The update is also said to include a new, streamlined file-distribution method that disassociates transfers from specific users.

"The biggest privacy weakness of our previous version was the ability to query a list of shared songs for any user -- now that can be disabled," Soto said. "It may be possible to gather IP addresses from the network, but not data about what content specific users are sharing."

Blubster uses an Internet data transfer protocol known as UDP for content look-up and transfer negotiating. Unlike the TCP protocol that serves this function in other file-sharing networks, UDP is a so-called "connectionless" method that doesn't reveal links between nodes or acknowledge transmission in an identifiable manner.

Because UDP transfer logs don't reveal detailed information about which user at which IP address is accessing what content at what time, they are considered less vulnerable to legal discovery than TCP logs.

"Any technology that allows people to communicate is a step in the right direction," Soto said. "This isn't just about exchanging music, this is about the right to create technology and enjoy the right to privacy."

Developer sources told Wired News that pro-P2P coalitions are forming in the United States and Europe to centralize lobbying and public relations efforts. Coalition members are said to include Grokster, LimeWire, Blubster and others. Public announcements are expected in July.

Philip Corwin, Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist for Kazaa distributor Sharman Networks, predicts file traders will migrate to anonymous networks and "sneaker networks" that facilitate trades among smaller groups of swappers. This is already possible through popular instant-messaging clients from Yahoo, Microsoft and America Online, and through tools such as Waste, the application created by principal Nullsoft developer Justin Frankel that facilitates secure exchanges among private groups.

"There is no practical technological means to obliterate the public's ability to transfer files," Corwin said. "The RIAA lawsuits may create a chilling effect that deters some or causes others to limit the size of shared collections to minimize risk. It will probably drive more technologically adept consumers to systems that profess to offer more security against legal assault."

Sharman, currently engaged in a court battle of its own with the recording industry, has yet to announce whether it will modify the Kazaa service.

Freenet founder Ian Clarke is concerned that some P2P users could be misled by opportunistic software providers who promise anonymity as an afterthought.

"It's not like slapping a new button on an application interface. Freenet resulted from a year of purely theoretical work, then three years of actual software development toward the goal of a completely anonymous system."

Clarke is among a number of developers who question the industry's technical ability to accurately track illicitly shared content. For instance, MP3 fans may possess files from independent artists in their shared collections with names that could cause them to be confused with files from major-label artists.

"How much anonymity do you want to have?" Clarke asked. "It's not a binary 'yes' or 'no.' What degree of resources are you trying to protect against? Some rogue individual or an organization capable of persuading Congress to change laws?"

While Freenet was not designed to be an anonymous MP3-swapping network, a portion of the public apparently thinks it is: The Freenet home page received a threefold increase in hits since Wednesday's RIAA announcement, and the project received more donations in the week following than it had in the previous two months combined, according to Clarke.

"We're constantly having to fight the misperception that it was created to facilitate the exchange of copyrighted entertainment," Clarke said. "If we suddenly start seeing tons of new users demanding functionality that would make it work like an anonymous MP3-sharing network, we'll be in a difficult position, because that's not something we care about.

"We're concerned with the online Chinese dissident, not whether or not some guy can download the latest Britney Spears album without paying."

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59448,00.html

[napho]

Here's the Clean Blubster http://drdamn.com/downloads/blubster250.php

[JackSpratts]

thanks napho, working great! and a happy birthday to uh, canada!

- js.

[pod]

I don't see how using UDP makes anything more anonymous. The packets still come from your IP, with your IP stamped all over it. They still have a port number. They contain the same data an equivalent TCP packet would. Just because fewer people (and monitoring tools) are aware of UDP... it's used less often because it's not reliable like TCP. Mostly used for games and streaming media where losing a few packets here and there is not a big deal. Once you know what you're looking for, it's just as easy to capture and reconstruct a UDP stream as it is to sniff a TCP connection. And TCP works better through firewalls too.

I'd agree with the FreeNet guy. Unless you're using encrypted connections a'la FreeNet/Waste, or some sort of universal forwarding mechanism (aka plausible deniability), you have nothing resembling anonymity, and you're just fooling yourself. Probably your best bet is to blend in with the masses so you don't get singled out in a lawsuit.


And, uh, right back atchya, US!

[TankGirl]

Originally posted by pod
I'd agree with the FreeNet guy. Unless you're using encrypted connections a'la FreeNet/Waste, or some sort of universal forwarding mechanism (aka plausible deniability), you have nothing resembling anonymity, and you're just fooling yourself.

And I'd agree with you. UDP is inherently no safer than TCP - both as channels are similarly subject to outside snooping, by your ISP and by any number of middlemen. As I see it, both encryption and some sort of smart forwarding/proxying scheme are needed to provide safe anonymity. Upload and download anonymity are also somewhat different cases with different requirements. As there is a price for all proxying, it would make sense to allow users to choose what content to share anonymously and what publicly. Similarly they could choose between an anonymous (possibly slower) download mode and an open (possibly faster) download mode - depending on the local legal circumstances...

As for Blubster, I have to say that it is hard to take seriously any anonymity claims from a company that makes money by installing third-party spyware to your computer.

- tg