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Anthropic installed a spyware bridge on my machine?

thatprivacyguy.com

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Re: Anthropic installed a spyware bridge on my machine?

#11

Post by xfactorial »

bpodgursky wrote: post #5

You should not install Claude Desktop or Claude Code unless you trust Anthropic. You either trust them to be a responsible custodian of your compute environment or you don't. I mean it almost doesn't matter what is installed at any given time, the agent is going to install stuff you can't realistically observe, the software will auto-update, there is simply no way you can be sure spyware won't end up on your computer…

Having faith on a for-profit organization about doing the right thing, with access to your computer and the things you do on it, may be a bit too much.

It was always quite a simple thing to do: “disclosure”. Explain me, in plain English, the things you are going to do when I install your software: do not bury it on a 40-page EULA with multiple amendments referring to different aspects that affect me and for which I would probably need a lawyer, or their very service to understand it, and that is of course subject to be changed at any time they feel.

It’s 2026 and they keep on nagging it: even Apple stopped doing the little summary at the beginning of the “Accept the New Terms” where they explained, in plain English, what those changes were.

And every time they do that, it is always on their favor: you code and eat pizza, they have a 1000 dollar an hour group of lawyers, ironing the hell out of their legal terms to must accept to use their services.

Re: Anthropic installed a spyware bridge on my machine?

#12

Post by bpodgursky »

xfactorial wrote: post #11
bpodgursky wrote: post #5

You should not install Claude Desktop or Claude Code unless you trust Anthropic. You either trust them to be a responsible custodian of your compute environment or you don't. I mean it almost doesn't matter what is installed at any given time, the agent is going to install stuff you can't realistically observe, the software will auto-update, there is simply no way you can be sure spyware won't end up on your computer…

Having faith on a for-profit organization about doing the right thing, with access to your computer and the things you do on it, may be a bit too much. It was always quite a simple thing to do: “disclosure”. Explain me, in plain English, the things you are going to do when I install your software: do not bury it on a 40-page EULA with multiple amendments referring to different aspects that affect me and for which I w…

I am not telling you what to do, I am saying that Claude Code and Claude Desktop are not "normal" pieces of software that you can install once and choose to upgrade or not. It's a semi-alive agentic daemon. This is not something you can firewall and upgrade once a quarter after reviewing the changelog.

Re: Anthropic installed a spyware bridge on my machine?

#13

Post by bot403 »

catcowcostume wrote: post #7
Nevin1901 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that won't fit the narrative that Antrhopic is an evil company nickel and diming their users...

As if we needed more evidence to corroborate that.

I'll stand up and say we do need more evidence of that please.

Re: Anthropic installed a spyware bridge on my machine?

#16

Post by SilverElfin »

The later parts of this article listing out the dark patterns and security issues and privacy issues is great. Spyware may not be the right term but there is a lot that is wrong here and Anthropic absolutely should be called out for it. Many people and businesses are trusting what appears to be a mix of vibe coded slop and aggressive anti user growth hacks. So much for Anthropic’s high and mighty moralizing.

Re: Anthropic installed a spyware bridge on my machine?

#17

Post by SilverElfin »

bot403 wrote: post #13
catcowcostume wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As if we needed more evidence to corroborate that.

I'll stand up and say we do need more evidence of that please.

Have you seen the near daily complaints about how Claude is getting worse or more expensive? I feel like there have been many recent posts like that, but it’s not limited to just here either. It seems like a lot of people are feeling like Anthropic is at least being not transparent, although many would say deceitful.

Re: Anthropic installed a spyware bridge on my machine?

#18

Post by tommodev »

ibash wrote: post #10

That’s not spyware, that’s just how native messaging is designed to work. You have to put a manifest there if you want the native messaging to work later.

Yeah, this. 1password does the same thing for any browser it detects when installed for the native desktop integration from the chrome extension.

Not 100% across the spec but this wouldn't functionally do anything until you install the related extension? e.g., it's pinned to nominated `allowed_origins`

Re: Anthropic installed a spyware bridge on my machine?

#19

Post by ozlikethewizard »

tommodev wrote: post #18
ibash wrote: post #10

That’s not spyware, that’s just how native messaging is designed to work. You have to put a manifest there if you want the native messaging to work later.

Yeah, this. 1password does the same thing for any browser it detects when installed for the native desktop integration from the chrome extension. Not 100% across the spec but this wouldn't functionally do anything until you install the related extension? e.g., it's pinned to nominated `allowed_origins`

Yea I guess the issue here is whether you think installing the extenstion should set up the integration or installing the thing being integrated should set up it. Im inclined to think its the extensions responsibility, but I dont think its a severe data issue.

Re: Anthropic installed a spyware bridge on my machine?

#20

Post by durzo22 »

jimmydoe wrote: post #9

I double Anthropic did this, as apparently people copy this manually and it's still not working : https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/14616 Of course if they actually did it, without your consent, that's really really bad.

He proves it in the article and mentions multiple times they are created in launch of Claude for desktop. Why even comment if you didn’t read
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