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Class action lawsuit filed against Lenovo over Superfish

unitedstatescourts.org

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Re: Class action lawsuit filed against Lenovo over Superfish

#41

Post by bhauer »

davis_m wrote: post #8
rshaban wrote: post #7

"Notably, Lenovo did not preinstall the Superfish program on any of its computer models that were marketed to businesses or more sophisticated computer users." That's a particularly damning accusation.

Not necessarily. Many of the higher end and business models come without spyware of any kind, not just this particular piece of software.

> Not necessarily. Many of the higher end and business models come without spyware of any kind, not just this particular piece of software.

I like that you said spyware, whether intentionally or not.

Most people call these programs "crapware," "junkware," "bloatware," or third-party pre-installed software. Though generally speaking this third-party junkware isn't expressly designed to be spyware. Nevertheless, with cases like Superfish, the line between spyware and junkware is vanishingly faint.

Re: Class action lawsuit filed against Lenovo over Superfish

#42

Post by rebootthesystem »

Rule #1 of buying any pre-packged Windows computer: Clean install the OS from original MS disks, not from what might come with the computer. If you are running a business the cost is insignificant when compared with the aggravation and risk of crapware. This is also the reason we still build our own desktop computers: You know exactly what's in them, you can service them and generally get more performance and quality per dollar spent.

Re: Class action lawsuit filed against Lenovo over Superfish

#44

Post by tgbrter »

kazinator wrote: post #40

The allegations here are of a criminal nature. If true, people need to go to jail here, in addition to any civil remedies arising out of the class action suit.

Is it possible that the "cyber" laws are designed to be effective towards individuals.

Re: Class action lawsuit filed against Lenovo over Superfish

#45

Post by Jun8 »

wehadfun wrote: post #29

Suprise that no market their computers as "crapware free".

I don't think one should be surprised. At least two reasons can be given:

1) "crapware" is not well-defined for all users, some utility that absolutely is annoying and unnecessary to medium to advanced users may be found useful by complete novices, e.g. the prototypical "your grandma".

2) The bigger cause is, of course, affiliate money. Companies have little backlash to crapware other than perhaps some lost sales due to disgruntled users. That's hard to quantify. The money you get from an affiliate whose crapware you preinstall is absolutely easy to quantify, though. This is definitely the mode of operation for cell phone companies. My Verizon phone comes with NFL apps and other crap that I can't even uninstall.

3) In lost cases, though, it's the companies own additional software that is the crapware. Again, the cause is money, the tracking and/or usage data is worth a lot of money.

Unless there is a big punishment, large enough to really hurt these huge companies, the status quo will continue. That's why this particular lawsuit is so important.

Re: Class action lawsuit filed against Lenovo over Superfish

#46

Post by rubbingalcohol »

lessthunk wrote: post #24

.. reinstall any computer you get from scratch; Firmware Bios spying is of course much harder to get rid from.

Many of these computers don't even come with OS reinstallation media. They tend to have recovery partitions on the hard drives which will only restore the computer to its initial spyware-ridden state.

I downvoted your comment because of your implication that spyware wouldn't be a problem if only everyone were as sophisticated as you.

Re: Class action lawsuit filed against Lenovo over Superfish

#48

Post by a3n »

belorn wrote: post #2

Going through the list of complaints, it really sound as it should have been a criminal procedure, not civil. One then wonder why that isn't the case here.

It would seem to be a violation of the DMCA, as it is software preinstalled to allow the eventual side-stepping of the end-user's security measures (using an HTTPS-capable browser).

"It also criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_A...

EDIT: Considering the huge number of victims systematically targeted on an ongoing basis, perhaps RICO would apply too. Certainly RICO is brought to bear by prosecutors when trying to intimidate less resourced individuals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corru...

Re: Class action lawsuit filed against Lenovo over Superfish

#49

Post by mfisher87 »

arenaninja wrote: post #22
mfisher87 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

404 is probably for the best. It's one of those sites that immediately starts playing loud video when you open it. EDIT: omg, it's a unicorn of bad web design. The video loads on every page of this website.

> EDIT: omg, it's a unicorn of bad web design. The video loads on every page of this website. I've explained time and time again why this is a bad idea, but some people really want their video on every page..

What I'm confused about is why anyone needs another human to explain to them that watching the same woman repeating the same verbatim speech in reaction to every user action is stupid.
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