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Lenovo Statement on Superfish

news.lenovo.com

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Re: Lenovo Statement on Superfish

#41

Post by slantyyz »

The problem with the statement is that Lenovo owners need to be aware of the news to find it.

I'm on Lenovo's mailing list and haven't seen a similar statement in my inbox with remedial instructions.

I was only half-lucky with Superfish. I bought my Y50 before Xmas and removed Superfish and all other non-essential software but didn't know about the certificate, which I deleted today.

Sadly, I don't think the typical non-technical Lenovo user is even going to find out about this or know how to fix it.

Re: Lenovo Statement on Superfish

#42

Post by grecy »

eropple wrote: post #4

> We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence to substantiate security concerns. I try to be measured around here, as hard as I can. I can't formulate a polite way to respond to this claim. Lenovo, you are full of shit, and maliciously so. There is no excuse, nor forgiveness, for what you've done here.

> We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence to substantiate security concerns.

I work at a large Telco/ISP and I understand how this kind of thing happens (though I'm not excusing it).

First they come to the tech people and we explain exactly what's going on. Our managers translate it so they can understand it, and push it up with their name on it. Those Directors translate it so they can understand it and push it up with their name on it. The VPs dumb it down a bit, put their name on it and push it sideways to communications, where it goes all the way back "down" the organizational structure until someone actually makes the press release. By that time sometimes the release isn't even about the same original thing anymore.

Our company puts out press releases all the time and us tech people just shake our heads at how inaccurate and plain wrong they are.

EDIT: As Kurtz79 points out, I forgot the step where it gets translated through Legal/PR before it goes down to communications.

Re: Lenovo Statement on Superfish

#43

Post by skywhopper »

tyho wrote: post #27

> The relationship with Superfish is not financially significant; our goal was to enhance the experience for users. I would prefer for this to be a lie than for it to turn out for this statement to be true. Surely nobody at Lenovo honestly belived that ad injection improved user experience?

I feel like many marketing professionals have deluded themselves into either thinking this is true or redefining enough words in their vocabulary that it becomes true. eg, If these ads result in people buying something, then that "proves" they were "useful" and thereby provided a "good experience" to the user.

Re: Lenovo Statement on Superfish

#45

Post by Alupis »

pja wrote: post #32
eropple wrote: post #4

> We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence to substantiate security concerns. I try to be measured around here, as hard as I can. I can't formulate a polite way to respond to this claim. Lenovo, you are full of shit, and maliciously so. There is no excuse, nor forgiveness, for what you've done here.

Can you ever imagine Apple pulling a stunt like this? No, because it’s astonishingly user hostile: Lenovo should be hanging their head in shame, not making out like it’s no big deal.

> Can you ever imagine Apple pulling a stunt like this? No

Why would you jump to that conclusion? Apple is just a company... and through the right view-port, even something like this can appear to be "consumer oriented" to management ("we're helping customers locate products and services easier").

Recently Canonical thought it was a great idea to bake-in Amazon ads into their search lens... so ads and product placement tagged with their affiliate link were baked into your OS.

No company is immune to doing stupid things, even Apple.

Re: Lenovo Statement on Superfish

#46

Post by JimmyM »

superobserver wrote: post #10

I'm seeing at least one report dating from September of last year on their forums: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z-series/Lenovo-...

> We are getting off-topic here. If you have questions pertaining to the differences between adware, spyware, potentially unwanted applications, and viruses please post on the Security & Malware Forum. We'll be glad to clear up any misunderstanding.

Ugh. Patronising, misleading and evading the point all in one answer. This was a horrible thread to read.

Re: Lenovo Statement on Superfish

#47

Post by profinger »

Honestly, I wish there was a way to comment on their stupid statement. These bullsh*t companies need to realize that users don't want the stupid bloatware in the first place. I paid you a TON of money for this computer the least you can do is give it to me in its best condition.

You wouldn't buy a car that came painted with advertisements on the side!

Re: Lenovo Statement on Superfish

#48

Post by javert »

Cut the Bullshit Lenovo! Stop Lying to Us!

> We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence to substantiate security concerns.

A bald-faced lie!

> our goal was to enhance the experience for users

A bald-faced lie! Adding ads to a page cannot enhance user experience!

I'm on, I think, my 4th ThinkPad. A loyal customer.

Stop treating us like shit! This is completely unacceptable.

Issue a real apology and start firing people, or shut the fuck up.

Re: Lenovo Statement on Superfish

#49

Post by rockdoe »

geoka9 wrote: post #35
pkinsky wrote: post #13

I was considering getting a Lenovo X1 Carbon to run linux on. I'd be installing a clean image, so no Superfish, but I still don't want to give money to Lenovo right now. What alternative linux laptops are there? (aside from macs)

Why does lenovo thinkpad have to be the only line of laptops that has a trackpoint by default? How hard can it be to include it for other brands? This is a very important feature for some people and it limits their choice to thinkpads and (AFAIK) some HP laptops.

At a guess, it's patented?

Re: Lenovo Statement on Superfish

#50

Post by teddyuk »

pkinsky wrote: post #13

I was considering getting a Lenovo X1 Carbon to run linux on. I'd be installing a clean image, so no Superfish, but I still don't want to give money to Lenovo right now. What alternative linux laptops are there? (aside from macs)

I have an hp elitebook, works great with ubuntu
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