What are the limits for what you call trustworthy? Big-time companies? Sourceforge? ogre.exe?
It's mostly a matter of knowledge. If I've heard of the company or program before, and the website isn't a phish, then I know whether to trust it or not. I've heard of Apple's iTunes, I think I can trust that. I've heard of Google, so this Google Gears is ok. SOPCast? Suuuuuure.
If it's a closed source program, look for the company that makes it. Then research that company to make sure they are legit, if you haven't heard of them before. I look around on my computer, and all the proprietary software is made by big companies, Microsoft, Google, Apple, VMWare. I think the only two small ones are Digsby and JungleDisk. But JungleDisk got bought by RackSpace, so they're not so small.
If it's open source, look for the community. Every big open source project has some sort of community. There's a forum. There's an e-mail list. There's a newsgroup. There's a developer's blog. There's videos on YouTube talking about how great it is.
One last thing to look for is if smart people advocate the software. If your favorite web-comic artist thinks it's a cool program, don't get it. If Engadget or Leo Laporte tell you that it's cool, then you can probably go for it.
Thanks. My mom downloads all kinds of crap, despite my efforts to get her not to. I can tell what not to download, but she can't, and she doesn't really know enough for me to explain it well to her. Sure, I know skype is legit, but to her it looks the same as lolVOIP.exe. She's never heard of the companies geeks take for granted, so I just tell her download nothing.
Thanks. My mom downloads all kinds of crap, despite my efforts to get her not to. I can tell what not to download, but she can't, and she doesn't really know enough for me to explain it well to her. Sure, I know skype is legit, but to her it looks the same as lolVOIP.exe. She's never heard of the companies geeks take for granted, so I just tell her download nothing.
Why does your mom have administrator privileges? Lock down that shit so she can't install anything. Better yet, giver her the Linux.
Rym, that is all fine and well. In fact, I am pretty much in the same mentality as you do. However, just as you said, this is probably not entirely inside the legal spectrum of computer usage and I believe that if you don't respect the law, you can't really expect others to do it too for your sake. Like you said, this is a risk vs. reward principle and you are taking pretty much the same risks as with P2P applications etc. Of course there are alternatives provided by the original content creator, but if you don't want to put out the money for that, you need to live with the risk involved. You said you don't want to do that because you don't think the reward justifies it. For me, it's even the only possible solution to watch the NHL live since NHL Gamecenter isn't even available in my region and even disregarding the big pricetag it's an inferior product in comparison to finding a stream because of blackout restrictions.
Well, at least the NHL itself provides free game radio if you want that. But the flash video streams are for one superior and secondly bear only the same risk as a YouTube video. I only use a P2PTV application like SOPCast as a fallback since they are actually sometimes worse than the Flash video sites in terms of video quality or getting them to work.
e you said, this is a risk vs. reward principle and you are taking pretty much the same risks as with P2P applications etc.
You're not taking any risk with bittorrent: it's trusted software. The only risk comes from executing untrusted files with administrative privileges.
In fact, I am pretty much in the same mentality as you do. However, just as you said, this is probably not entirely inside the legal spectrum of computer usage and I believe that if you don't respect the law, you can't really expect others to do it too for your sake.
I don't care about the law. Just know that your computer is very likely compromised in some way. That doesn't affect me, but it certainly will affect you. If you're fine with using a possibly compromised computer, then go for it.
I only use a P2PTV application like SOPCast as a fallback
It doesn't matter: if you've ever run an untrusted executable on your PC with administrative privileges, it's as good as compromised forever. If you've already run it, then you'd might as well keep running it: it can't do any more damage than it's already done.
You're not taking any risk with bittorrent: it's trusted software. The only risk comes from executing untrusted files with administrative privileges.
So you don't think anybody would hide malware in a bittorrent tracker? The problem is exactly in your description: Trusted Software. Any software can hide malware within it because you don't have the sourcecode that it was compiled from. If you trust that you get a decent product, you install it. If you don't, you don't. But that is for every software. You can also trust a worm when you think it's a graphics driver. Because something is trusted doesn't mean it can't be bad. The only difference is your own choice who you are going to trust but trust itself doesn't mean it is guaranteed to be save. It only means you assume it to be save.
The "If you don't respect the law" bit wasn't directed at you, Rym, but figuratively. Meaning that if one person doesn't care to pay for something and "steals" it he can't really complain to get an inferior or even malicious product.
So you don't think anybody would hide malware in a bittorrent tracker?
How could you hide malware in a bittorrent tracker? You're not making any sense.
I supposed that someone could make a new bittorrent client that is actually shady. However, there are many well-known, and perfectly good, bittorrent clients that are 100% trustworthy. I just use the client form bittorrent.com. When I go on pirate bay, there are plenty of virused up files available for download, but that has nothing to do with bittorrent. Bittorrent is just a different downloading mechanism. I have to apply judgement to each and every thing I download on pirate bay. Some of the things on there are just nice and safe mp3s. Some of the things on there, mostly the pirated games and software, are virused up. If you have a pirate Photoshop, Windows, etc. you're probably virused.
There are people at my work who think that you can get viruses from a video file. Not from an exploit in the software that a video file uses, not from using DRM to force Windows Media Player to connect to a shady server, but from a straight-up video file.
There are people at my work who think that you can get viruses from a video file. Not from an exploit in the software that a video file uses, not from using DRM to force Windows Media Player to connect to a shady server, but from a straight-up video file.
They can if the video file ends in .exe
Seriously, someone tried to open one of those while I was watching them do it. I was able to prevent it...
It is if you don't know any better. Also, it's trivial to make an exe that plays a video when double clicked on. Of course it also gives you a horrible virus, but hey.
It is if you don't know any better. Also, it's trivial to make an exe that plays a video when double clicked on. Of course it also gives you a horrible virus, but hey.
I'm talking in the strictest sense, it's not a video file. It's an executeable that plays a video and fucks over your computer. But I see what you mean; he could've thought it was a video but it was really a virus.
Comments
If it's a closed source program, look for the company that makes it. Then research that company to make sure they are legit, if you haven't heard of them before. I look around on my computer, and all the proprietary software is made by big companies, Microsoft, Google, Apple, VMWare. I think the only two small ones are Digsby and JungleDisk. But JungleDisk got bought by RackSpace, so they're not so small.
If it's open source, look for the community. Every big open source project has some sort of community. There's a forum. There's an e-mail list. There's a newsgroup. There's a developer's blog. There's videos on YouTube talking about how great it is.
One last thing to look for is if smart people advocate the software. If your favorite web-comic artist thinks it's a cool program, don't get it. If Engadget or Leo Laporte tell you that it's cool, then you can probably go for it.
Well, at least the NHL itself provides free game radio if you want that. But the flash video streams are for one superior and secondly bear only the same risk as a YouTube video. I only use a P2PTV application like SOPCast as a fallback since they are actually sometimes worse than the Flash video sites in terms of video quality or getting them to work.
The problem is exactly in your description: Trusted Software. Any software can hide malware within it because you don't have the sourcecode that it was compiled from. If you trust that you get a decent product, you install it. If you don't, you don't. But that is for every software. You can also trust a worm when you think it's a graphics driver. Because something is trusted doesn't mean it can't be bad. The only difference is your own choice who you are going to trust but trust itself doesn't mean it is guaranteed to be save. It only means you assume it to be save.
The "If you don't respect the law" bit wasn't directed at you, Rym, but figuratively. Meaning that if one person doesn't care to pay for something and "steals" it he can't really complain to get an inferior or even malicious product.
I supposed that someone could make a new bittorrent client that is actually shady. However, there are many well-known, and perfectly good, bittorrent clients that are 100% trustworthy. I just use the client form bittorrent.com. When I go on pirate bay, there are plenty of virused up files available for download, but that has nothing to do with bittorrent. Bittorrent is just a different downloading mechanism. I have to apply judgement to each and every thing I download on pirate bay. Some of the things on there are just nice and safe mp3s. Some of the things on there, mostly the pirated games and software, are virused up. If you have a pirate Photoshop, Windows, etc. you're probably virused.
"Hey kids! Want to run your own bittorrent tracker? Just download and install SuperXBTT!"
Not from an exploit in the software that a video file uses, not from using DRM to force Windows Media Player to connect to a shady server, but from a straight-up video file.
Seriously, someone tried to open one of those while I was watching them do it. I was able to prevent it...