Browzar accused of being adware - bit-tech.net Forums

Garside · 4th Sep 2006, 12:42

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/09..._being_adware/

rupbert · 4th Sep 2006, 12:44

The name alone made me stay clear, they might well have just called it 'Teh BroWzAr'...

Glider · 4th Sep 2006, 12:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by rupbert

The name alone made me stay clear, they might well have just called it 'Teh BroWzAr'...

Teh (3)1337 ~~H4X0R~~ Bro\/\/Z4r [that took me ages to type] would be more appropriate

But yeah, too obvious...

olly_lewis · 4th Sep 2006, 14:02

Yeah the name was rubbish and looks like the product is rubbish to, I know, Firefox allows some degree of privacy and there is a market for privacy in a world where the MPAA and RIAA can see what you've downloaded illegally and nab you for it..
The market for privacy is still open and perhaps they'll be more products like this, but of course, if they are all like this, then there's no point, is there...
I just want to know what the next privacy browser app is called... how about 133t<bROwSEr OMG!>? I like it...

DXR_13KE · 4th Sep 2006, 14:44

another "browzar" for the trash bin.

jjsyht · 4th Sep 2006, 15:07

Its a pity you cant sue the developers for releasing crap like this.

sunnyg · 4th Sep 2006, 15:15

it sounds like something out of starwars, made by a college student.

xrob · 4th Sep 2006, 16:08

that thing actually looks like it was designed by a 10y/o

who the hell would even bother downloading it unless your a serial masterbater

mclean007 · 4th Sep 2006, 16:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by olly_lewis

Yeah the name was rubbish and looks like the product is rubbish to, I know, Firefox allows some degree of privacy and there is a market for privacy in a world where the MPAA and RIAA can see what you've downloaded illegally and nab you for it..
The market for privacy is still open and perhaps they'll be more products like this, but of course, if they are all like this, then there's no point, is there...
I just want to know what the next privacy browser app is called... how about 133t<bROwSEr OMG!>? I like it...

It will take something a lot more than a supposed 'no traces' browser to keep the MPAA and RIAA off your back - for starters, generally when you download something illegally, you will store it somewhere, so that kind of negates the whole idea of leaving no traces on your machine. And that's even if this thing worked properly. The idea, patently, is to allow someone to look at...ahem...shall we say 'seedy' websites without being caught out by his wife / girlfriend / flatmate / kids looking at the internet history / temp internet files / IE dropdown / cookies list etc. Getting rid of those tracks is trivial stuff to you and me, but to Joe Average, maybe something like this is a good way for him to get his prawn fix without fear of being caught out.

Of course it is just a shell for IE - it downloads in about 300KB or something - it obviously wasn't going to be a fully fledged browser. And lots of sites require cookies to work. I'm guessing Browzar must have some success in isolating the pages visited / form entries from IE's history, cache and autocomplete, otherwise it really would be totally pointless.

If you want to steer clear of the MPAA and RIAA, you need to use something like an anonymising encrypted proxy (e.g. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/08...able_internet/) or at the very least block RIAA / MPAA IP addresses using PeerGuardian.

yahooadam · 4th Sep 2006, 16:35

glad you posted this up as you posted on the browzar thread linking to that blog

good thing i never used it

And apart from that, you can actually change all the thing in IE to be more secure then browzar anyway, and you don't need an extra shell for IE

Firehed · 4th Sep 2006, 19:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjsyht

Its a pity you cant sue the developers for releasing crap like this.

If they're in America, and do any sort of damages, you most definitely can. And probably can even if they did nothing more than annoy you.

Glider · 4th Sep 2006, 19:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by mclean007

If you want to steer clear of the MPAA and RIAA, you need to use something like an anonymising encrypted proxy (e.g. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/08...able_internet/) or at the very least block RIAA / MPAA IP addresses using PeerGuardian.

And then the RIAA / MPAA get a court order to read your ISP logs, and all your "countermeasures" were in vein...

mclean007 · 4th Sep 2006, 19:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glider

And then the RIAA / MPAA get a court order to read your ISP logs, and all your "countermeasures" were in vein...

(1) If you are using an encrypted channel to a proxy, your ISP will have nothing of use to the RIAA / MPAA.
(2) They will only request your logs from the ISP if they have a suspicion that you are file sharing, and the way PeerGuardian works is by blocking their IP addresses, so you are 'invisible' to the RIAA etc.
(3) They will only get a court order if they can demonstrate some reasonable grounds why they think it will lead to a conviction - see (2).
(4) Any protection is better than none, and will reduce further the already slim chance of being caught.
(5) That's assuming your ISP actually keeps logs of every site you visit. They don't have to do so, and probably don't, at least not for long - it would generate an enormous amount of generally useless data.

However, you are correct insofar as the only way to be completely safe is not to do anything wrong in the first place, although it is still possible the RIAA (never ones to let the facts stand in the way of a good law suit) will file suit against you even if you don't have a PC.

IronFire · 5th Sep 2006, 01:23

http://torpark.nfshost.com/

Now your safe.

Lord_A · 5th Sep 2006, 10:41

What's wrong with just setting Firefox to 'Clear Private Data' on exit?

Or just manually delete all files yourself? I don't get why people need a 'privacy' browser at all tbh, especially one called Browzar, ugh.

4th Sep 2006, 12:42	#1
Garside Supermodder Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: London Posts: 395	Browzar accused of being adware http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/09..._being_adware/ Last edited by Garside; 4th Sep 2006 at 15:40.

4th Sep 2006, 14:02	#4
olly_lewis Hypermodder Join Date: May 2006 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 756	Yeah the name was rubbish and looks like the product is rubbish to, I know, Firefox allows some degree of privacy and there is a market for privacy in a world where the MPAA and RIAA can see what you've downloaded illegally and nab you for it.. The market for privacy is still open and perhaps they'll be more products like this, but of course, if they are all like this, then there's no point, is there... I just want to know what the next privacy browser app is called... how about 133t<bROwSEr OMG!>? I like it... __________________ My signature dumped me... ___________

4th Sep 2006, 14:44	#5
DXR_13KE Madeira's banana is the best!!! Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Madeira ; Portugal Posts: 6,461	another "browzar" for the trash bin. __________________ *Renegade X - 0.40 Release!* <---- CLICK!

4th Sep 2006, 15:07	#6
jjsyht Hello, my name is yuri Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Uk Posts: 132	Its a pity you cant sue the developers for releasing crap like this. __________________ SimpleMods Thinkpad x41: Centrino, 1Gb, 40Gb Mac Mini: G4, 512Mb, 80Gb

4th Sep 2006, 16:08	#8
xrob Modder Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Manchester Posts: 64	that thing actually looks like it was designed by a 10y/o who the hell would even bother downloading it unless your a serial masterbater __________________ Lian-Li V1000+, DFI SLI-DR VENUS, X2 3800(2.8), Team Group 2Gig, 8800GTS, 1 x 36Gig Raptor, 2 x 250Gig Spinpoints, 2 x Koolance HX-360 Rads, Koolance CPU-305-V10, Laing DDC-1 with Plexi Res.

4th Sep 2006, 12:44	#2
rupbert Hypermodder Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 799	The name alone made me stay clear, they might well have just called it 'Teh BroWzAr'...

4th Sep 2006, 15:15	#7
sunnyg Multimodder Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 148	it sounds like something out of starwars, made by a college student.

4th Sep 2006, 16:35	#10
yahooadam Ultra csavarkulcs Banned Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: UK Posts: 1,323	glad you posted this up as you posted on the browzar thread linking to that blog good thing i never used it And apart from that, you can actually change all the thing in IE to be more secure then browzar anyway, and you don't need an extra shell for IE

5th Sep 2006, 01:23	#14
IronFire Multimodder Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: South Posts: 102	http://torpark.nfshost.com/ Now your safe.

5th Sep 2006, 10:41	#15
Lord_A Boom baby! Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Leicester, UK Posts: 3,467	What's wrong with just setting Firefox to 'Clear Private Data' on exit? Or just manually delete all files yourself? I don't get why people need a 'privacy' browser at all tbh, especially one called Browzar, ugh. __________________ God is a trap. God is the answer when we don't know the answer. That means, when your brain is not enough big, when you don't understand, you go, "Ah, it's God, it's God." - Philippe Starck nothing to see here, move along...