Adobe Reader 7.05 warns before spying on you

Alexander Turcic · 12-24-2005, 04:57 PM

Adobe has quietly updated their Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0.5 to pop up a dialogue box when a PDF document is trying to track your usage with the spying software by Canada-based Remote Approach. Earlier this year we made the shocking discovery that since version 7.0, Adobe could be spying on you if the creator of an Adobe document wishes to do so:

Through some small JavaScript code that is embedded in the document Adobe Reader is reporting back information including the fact that you've opened the document (which has a unique identifier), your IP address, and which viewer version has been used. The information is submitted over port 80 using HTTP, so it is unlikely that a home or office firewall would, in a normal configuration, block the activity, unless the firewall administrator is attempting to block Web browsing.

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[via The Age]

TadW · 12-31-2005, 08:49 PM

I am over Adobe Reader and am using FoxIt's Reader as my default PDF Reader now. No spying features and requires little resources.

12-24-2005, 04:57 PM	#1
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,163 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Adobe Reader 7.05 warns before spying on you Adobe has quietly updated their Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0.5 to pop up a dialogue box when a PDF document is trying to track your usage with the spying software by Canada-based Remote Approach. Earlier this year we made the shocking discovery that since version 7.0, Adobe could be spying on you if the creator of an Adobe document wishes to do so: Through some small JavaScript code that is embedded in the document Adobe Reader is reporting back information including the fact that you've opened the document (which has a unique identifier), your IP address, and which viewer version has been used. The information is submitted over port 80 using HTTP, so it is unlikely that a home or office firewall would, in a normal configuration, block the activity, unless the firewall administrator is attempting to block Web browsing. Get the upgrade from here. [via The Age]

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12-31-2005, 08:49 PM	#2
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,583 Karma: 1094606 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	I am over Adobe Reader and am using FoxIt's Reader as my default PDF Reader now. No spying features and requires little resources.

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