Digsby using your PC to make money?

leezard

leezard

Supreme [H]ardness
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Aug 24, 2004
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http://lifehacker.com/5336382/digsby-joins-the-dark-side-uses-your-pc-to-make-money

You can debate the merits of bundled crapware, and brush away the despicable nature of preying on those lacking adequate tech skills, but did you realize that Digsby is also using your processor to make money?

That's right. Buried in the Terms of Service that almost nobody ever bothers reading, there's this exploiting-the-fine-print gem explaining that they will use your CPU to run distributed computing problems that make them money:

15. USAGE OF COMPUTER RESOURCES.
You agree to permit the Software to use the processing power of your computer when it is idle to run downloaded algorithms (mathematical equations) and code within a process. You understand that when the Software uses your computer, it likewise uses your CPU, bandwidth, and electrical power. The Software will use your computer to solve distributed computing problems, such as but not limited to, accelerating medical research projects, analyzing the stock market, searching the web, and finding the largest known prime number. This functionality is completely optional and you may disable it at any time.
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Yes you can turn it off, but the simple fact that they dont tell you how they plan to use your PC up front (during the install) is pretty shady IMO
 
Wow. I don't run it much, but that's not cool. I'm tired of fine print. Fine print from now on should be this simple:

You won't fuck with us. We won't fuck with you.
 
Been defending Digsby on this forum for awhile now, no longer. Back to Pidgin.
 
optional installs. besides.. the program is free. don't complain.
 
This is already in the ToS as well as the Digsby Wiki:
http://wiki.digsby.com/doku.php?id=faq#q15

If you don't like it, you can turn it off.
Even more, instead of downloading the default installer (the one with all the bullshit), there's a small link underneath that button for an alternative installer that DOESN'T install all the bullshit. Use that and you're good to go.

edit: Just read the full lifehacker article and it is, actually, worse than that blurb made it out to be. I'm on the fence now, since I love the Digsby program and have all that shit turned off, but the fact that it's there in the first place is unsettling.

Here's a thread on the Digsby forum. You can weigh in with your thoughts:
http://forum.digsby.com/viewtopic.php?id=4708
 
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Digsby is dead to me now. I moved from Trillian to Digsby probably 7 months ago or so I guess.

What makes me mad about this isn't that they did it. It's that I didn't read the EULA like I usually do because everybody said it was a great program. And honestly it's a wonderful chat program. The crapware I can deal with because we have the option to not install it. But using my CPU behind my back is utter bullshit.

I hope there's a lot of fallout about this. It's sad that Digsby had to do this but I've now moved to Pidgin for good and I won't look back.
 
It was in their FAQ.
When I first signed up, I realized that unlike GAIM, Digsby maintains online servers for your account, how are they funding this? First thing I did was answer their question, and there it was, described in plain view in their FAQ.

It explains how they get ad money from the installer and from for-profit distributed computing. Sounds good, I liked the app, I leave it running. They didn't really conceal anything, as pointed out it's all detailed on their website.
 
After checking my Digsby client, I found that the option for the Folding/CPU Cycle thingy was off. I had never touched it before, but it must have been off by default because the button next to it said "Enable."

Also, on the Digsby forums, the devs have said that it is off by default on all clients because they don't actually use it right now. So, yes, the capability is there and sometime in the future they were planning on using it, but it's not even on when you install the program, so it actually is a "hidden opt-in" instead of a "hidden opt-out" that's getting everyone's panties in a bunch.

Doesn't alleviate the situation much, as the damage has already been done. I'm going to keep using Digsby for now because it's still an awesome program and, from what I can see, has installed no ads, spyware, or other unwanted programs.
 
Digsby Devs have made a new blogpost this morning:

http://blog.digsby.com/

They basically reiterate what they've been saying all along, but still - the reason there is such a big fuss is that no one bothers to read the ToS or the Digsby Blog in the first place.

For now, I'm sticking with Digsby. I also voted Option 1 on the blog poll, because I can always download the alternative installer and skip the ads altogether.
 
At least they are planning to make it more obvious instead of burying it in the ToS

We are pushing out a release later today that will include the following changes:

* We are moving the entire “Support Digsby” section out of the “Help” menu and into the preferences window so the option to enable/disable the research module is easier to find
* Digsby will show a popup notification telling you about the module with a “Learn More” button which links to a page describing it in detail including instructions for how to enable/disable it. The popup will be “sticky” so it will not disappear until you click “Learn More” or “Close” to ensure that users don’t accidentally miss it.
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Not that I would ever use the software,but do they have a pay usage scale? That away you could keep track of what they owe you atleast.
 
leezard said:
At least they are planning to make it more obvious instead of burying it in the ToS
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And that's my main problem with it. They can claim they told people about it all the time but it's buried. They need to be transparent, not this we'll mention it deep in the EULA to cover our asses and hope nobody notices. In the long run this is too little too late. Digsby has already been uninstalled on my computers, Pidgin has replaced it, and I'm not going back. It's only a matter of time before they try some other underhanded shit.
 
Vermillion said:
And that's my main problem with it. They can claim they told people about it all the time but it's buried. They need to be transparent, not this we'll mention it deep in the EULA to cover our asses and hope nobody notices. In the long run this is too little too late. Digsby has already been uninstalled on my computers, Pidgin has replaced it, and I'm not going back. It's only a matter of time before they try some other underhanded shit.
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I agree, changing it after the fact is shady. I'm not a digsby user, it doesnt have the one feature I need for work.

The fact they have jumped on "fixing" it so fast tells me they are catching a LOT more flack for it than expected.
 
Regardless of the explanations or default settings, or future plans for what they've coded, it's enough for me to uninstall and never use again. After changing all my social network passwords, of course.

I understand that they want/need to make money, but this is one revenue generating idea that I won't support. And as Vermillion stated earlier, this is just the beginning before they do something even worse. At least they showed their hand early enough for me to get out.
 
Ludic said:
Regardless of the explanations or default settings, or future plans for what they've coded, it's enough for me to uninstall and never use again. After changing all my social network passwords, of course.

I understand that they want/need to make money, but this is one revenue generating idea that I won't support. And as Vermillion stated earlier, this is just the beginning before they do something even worse. At least they showed their hand early enough for me to get out.
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Exactly. The fact that they're changing it now is shady enough.

They could apologize and remove all the bad code, but it still wouldn't reverse the damage they've done to themselves. They've lost the trust of a huge chunk of their user base. The damage has been done. It's too late now. You fuck with your customers, you lose. Especially when there's alternatives that are just as good (or nearly as good).
 
Jon55 said:
Exactly. The fact that they're changing it now is shady enough.

They could apologize and remove all the bad code, but it still wouldn't reverse the damage they've done to themselves. They've lost the trust of a huge chunk of their user base. The damage has been done. It's too late now. You fuck with your customers, you lose. Especially when there's alternatives that are just as good (or nearly as good).
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I doubt they lost that many. And if you actually read there blog post they're making it easier to understand and easier to disable. And users of digsby aren't customers since its free.
 
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