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[LUG] Register warns of Belkin spyware updates



http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/69/33858.html
<quote>
Help! my Belkin router is spamming me

The router would grab a random HTTP connection every eight hours and redirect 
it to Belkin's (push) advertised web page, an ad for Belkin's new parental 
control system, following a software update. 
 
There is an opt-out link on the advertised page but this failed to appease 
Clem who, not unreasonably, objects to having to "opt-out from commercials 
from my router". Because of the ads, he's decided not to buy Belkin products 
again. 
</quote>

Uhh, forgive my innocence, but if there is an opt-out link on a remote website 
that stops the spam, doesn't that mean that the router is storing that 
information in firmware? Information about me, my preferences and 
who-knows-what-else? We've got malware and spyware already - we don't need 
routers spying on us too. 

What other data is Belkin stealing from the connection?

Is it caching the HTTP_REFERER, GET and POST data to see where they SHOULD 
have sent the request? Presumably they would, otherwise you could lose 
important information from a HTTP submit operation!  https:// should be safe 
by being encrypted but there's no guarantee that the bank won't log you out 
automatically whilst you have been hijacked. If it is caching all that, WHERE 
is it being cached? How much memory have they given these routers? If you're 
posting a long reply or story, is the router going to send the whole thing to 
/dev/null for you, just so you can be sent to the ad?

I used to like Belkin products too.
 
What gives them the right to HIJACK my traffic!

If I wanted to let a US corporate install spyware on my PC, I'd use Windows + 
Windows Update.

It's almost as bad as that VeriSign SiteFinder scam.

I'll never trust Belkin again.

-- 

Neil Williams
=============
http://www.codehelp.co.uk/
http://www.dclug.org.uk/
http://www.isbn.org.uk/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/isbnsearch/

http://www.biglumber.com/x/web?qs=0x8801094A28BCB3E3

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