JaseP wrote:
I have placed a very strongly worded email to tech support regarding this issue…
I do not think that Crumpy is off the mark, at least not in principal,… although I do not think that WD has placed a root kit on their product with the intent of violating the law… However,… depending on the jurisdication, their Smartware software may be just that,… a violation of criminal hacking statutes. Software that has the potential to circumvent security protocols, and therefore, the DMCA (never that I’d be citing THAT law in favor of consumer protection).
I am demanding, withing 30 days, a solution to removing Smartware completely, and within a Linux environment (which ought to suffice in providing a mechanism to both Windows and MAC users to remove the root kit through use of Linux Live CDs). If not, I suggest we consider banding together to initiate a class action suit against Western Digital for violation of our consumer rights… As a (non-practicing, but licensed) attorney, I am sure I know a few folks in Philly who would love to get their hands into WD’s deep pockets…
Furthermore, if I am not mistaken, their Smartware software may very well employ a Linux kernel (their ethernet enabled external drives certainly do). If so, failing to produce ther kernal sources (and the necessary build chain) is a GPL violation which wouldn’t sit well with the FSF… potential for injunction forbiding the sale of their product (M$ just had to buy themselves out of an injunction brought on by a patent claim by I4I, so the threat of injunction in the tech industry is real).
I suspect that WD’s managemtn is just turning senile or thinking that their customer base is stupid… Not realizing the techies that have been their customers all along represent more of a market than a tech ignorant mass consumer market through Walmart or Staples…
I am quite serious about action… this product is an insult, and one we should not take lightly…
I agree with this 200%.
In my original post, which I had to edit, this is the exact thing I suggested, yet I was threatened with being banned just for the notion. Smartware is the evolution of Memeo, which was also marked as a rootkit during its inception. If you peek in the Windows registry, you will see that Smartware even creates reference keys to Memeo. Unfortunately, all of the documented evidence on what Memeo was really doing, and how to circumvent it, has been effectively removed from the internet – go figure~! Very few trace sources of information are still available on the internet regarding the Memeo (virus/rootkit) software, which is becoming increasingly more difficult to locate with the growing clutter developing in search engines. The things occuring with Smartware are identical in nature to when Memeo first came on the market. WD has re-animated the devil. WD was facing several legal allegations back THEN as a direct result of Memeo – in relation to the inability to remove it, and the things Memeo was doing in the background with or without user consent nor knowledge. Same concept, same tricks, different name. I see no difference in Smartware, except Memeo users got a removal tool after mass complaints.
One of the ways Memeo violated user privacy, and smartware does as well, is by monitoring all files placed on the drive (or within any folders monitored) for any type of digital watermarks (a type of DRM in similarity). If any are found, it will utilize core OS components (such as svchost.exe in Windows) to send collected data to antipiracy organizations such as the RIAA. I actually think there might still be reference to this on the internet (with luck!). I remember reading about how WD/Memeo had partnered up with such organizations, and implemented hidden features within the software that would collect data and notify the appropriate agencies in discretion. I really wish I could find something for reference, because it was a HUGE issue when it was discovered. However, large companies like WD have the capability to cover up their mistakes very well – even on the internet. All such related information was in reference to the Memeo community forums, and all posts pertaining to such no longer exist. Regardless, with a little google-fu, plenty of information about watermarks & antipiracy is available on the internet.
The above is something I noticed recently when using my WD external drive one night for a few minutes, which was triggered from my memories of the mess Memeo created. This only occurs when using my WD external. I noticed that my NDIS IP packet filter was catching outgoing calls to some dodgy organizations when copying some protected libraries over to my drive. If anyone is familiar with digitally watermarked files, try copying some over to your WD external. Even with the VCD supposedly inactive/hidden, it will utilize core components of the OS to magically intercept even the most sophisticated firewalls, in attempt to notify related organizations. Thus, as I stated in a previous post, the components of the VCD are always active, even when it is not supposed to be. Don’t be fooled by smartware.
