PCFriendly Enables DVD Backchannels http://web.interhack.com/news/pcfriendly.php Abstract Numerous DVD titles from major movie producers between 1996 and 2000 come enabled with ``PCFriendly,'' an application developed by InterActual Technologies that tracks DVD usage. The system is designed to identify users persistently, without using an HTTP cookie, thus bypassing any privacy-enhancing technologies like cookie management software or browser configurations. The identifying token is persistent through product registration and PCFriendly use. Normal use of popular DVD titles on computers will result in users being identified verinymously, along with the DVDs that were used on the machine. Privacy problems for the user are significantly exacerbated by the DVD titles' links to Web sites, some of which have nonexistent privacy policies and in at least one case, send the user's email address to a third party. This behavior conflicts directly with the PCFriendly posted privacy policy of December 2000. Further discussion with InterActual showed that the policy was written to apply to the newer InterActual Player, released to replace the PCFriendly player, for which no privacy policy existed. PCFriendly appears to offer users granular control over which parts of the backchannel to enable, but the controls are not obvious, and are all enabled by default. Further, the software has been deprecated in favor of the newer InterActual Player, which includes additional features for user control over backchannel behavior. -- Matt Curtin, Founder Interhack Corporation http://web.interhack.com/ My new book, /Developing Trust: Online Privacy and Security,/ is now available. See site for details. research | development | consulting
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