Adobe, others slip anticounterfeiting code into apps

TalkBack 23 of 46:

Next »

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

Adobe Announces new Ashcroftware Line of Products

I guess we now know what those powerful, new, CPUs in our
future will be used for -- government spyware! If this is
allowed to stand, then we may soon see announcements in
the future that look something like this...

-------------------------------------------------
Adobe PR (Mar, 2005) - Adobe is proud to annouce the
introduction of its new Ashcroftware line of products. New
features in PhotoshopASH include the ability to *not*
display images of drivers license from ALL 50 states! Also,
snapshots viewed within PhotoshopASH will be examined
for facial identification of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted. Any
possible matches wil be immediately reported to the DOJ via
the internet using the Adobe Online plugin.

But the most promising new features have been saved for
Adobe premier product, PDF. All PDF enabled Ashcroftware
applications from Adobe will examine PDF text for several
key words of special interest. PDF documents with
comments critical to Adobe will be automatically removed
from offending documents. As as an extra special feature,
use of certain keywords in PDF documents will trigger an
immediate transmission of the user's IP address and
product serial number, along with a copy of the suspicious
PDF text, directly to to the DOJ for further analysis. This
will then usually result in enough evidence to allow the DOJ
to launch secret "sneak-and-peak" searches of the
offender's home.
-------------------------------------------------

All kidding aside, Adobe has done serious damage to the
trust of their user's in their products. If they would secretly
examine incoming images in Photoshop for currency
matches, what else might they be willing to do, or already
have done? Does anyone really know? It's bad enough they
now use internet-based product activation methods to lock
their products to a specific machine with the new "CS" line
of apps. That should have been a warning sign that worse
things were to follow. But, of course, good patriotic
Americans have nothing to fear. Just watch what you say,
though. Adobe (and the Feds) may be listening in the
future.

Posted by: pollymathis   Posted on: 01/10/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• Open Standards Technologies Provide the Ingredients for Delivering Security Across the Papa Gino's Enterprise Dell Papa Gino's Holdings Corporation founded by the entrepreneur operates one ... Download Now
• Reducing Server Total Cost of Ownership with VMware Virtualization Software VMware VMware virtualization enables customers to reduce their server TCO and ... Download Now
• Three Steps You Need to Know to Stop Data Loss Varonis Sensitive data exposed to misuse or loss... it is the stuff of nightmares ... Download Now