- This topic has 38 replies, 18 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 11 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
BuddySpy allows you to detect invisible Yahoo members as well as whether they are sharing their webcam or in a Yahoo chat room, raising privacy concerns for some.
Is BuddySpy good or bad? Place your vote, then share your viewpoint.
Well my answer would be others.
It is neither good or bad since it only utilizes what already exists on yahoo seeing that you do not actually need buddy spy to know which chat room a person is in and all. The program just makes it simpler.
Personally I feel programs like this have to exist to improve existing software and make people more concious as to what is possible on the application they are using. If yahoo made a invisible mode and they want it to work properly they should fix it at their end
On a final note I feel that people can use software or any thing for that matter for either legitimate purposes or for reasons that are questionable.Well, generally speaking I like a good heated debate.
I am glad Jeff opened this poll,
I created buddy spy, from questions and answers and thoughts based
upon forum threads here.
Now relating to its invasion of privacy issue.
as I have stated in Buddy Spy’s own thread, I don’t feel that this program is an invasion of privacy, as kron says.
It merely uses the same packets that messenger uses, but interprets them differently.
For example heres a break down,
Online Check (currently I have three ways of doing it, but I will show in this example, the standard procedure)
During an online check, an invite to conference packet is sent..
If there is no reply, that means the user is online, if it returns not available. the user is off.
Now quite obviously, You can do this in messenger with out any issues.
Webcam Check
When a webcam is connected to, it first send out a packet, this packet then returns the data of the server for the user.
If its a certain return value, the user is on webcam.
Room Check,
Merely a /goto packet, than can be done in any chat window.
So, as you can see, all buddy spy is really doing is making it easier for you to ‘check’ if your buddy is online or not.
Thats my two cents…
Well, I’m not crazy about people being able to tell if I am invisible or not, but it doesn’t really bother me much anymore. I would think that they would have fixed this with all the “status checkers” out there. Buddy Spy doesn’t do anything but take advantage of the current features in Yahoo. I do get people once in a while that IM me, “why are you ignoring me, I know you’re on, blah blah”. I just keep ignoring them. I use my messenger to keep in touch with several family members and close friends, and the majority of the time I am visible just to them. Personally, I don’t have time to sit around and chat with everybody all day long.
I don’t understand the reasoning for someone else caring if I’m using my web cam, but it’s my business.. and for that matter, if someone else is using programs to exploit it, it’s bluntly invasion of privacy. If I’m taking a shower, and I leave the door open a crack.. it doesn’t give you permission to peak in because you are able to.
It seems people are voting ‘Yes’ to the poll because they are nosey. Someone sets their status to invisible – it’s for a reason. Message them, leave them an offline message, and if they reply go from there. If not, leave them the hell alone.
*nod* Thank you, N8r. (that was a really pretty comparison too, by the way).
Who cares if you’re using a web cam or where you are in a room, heck you used to be able to check what room someone was in on AOL and still can in Eyechat. The only reason I think that someone would get bent out of shape for that is if they’re trying to avoid someone who’s bugging them constantly to go and put the cam on or following them room to room. In that case, if it’s that bad, ignore them, that’s what it’s there for.
The only thing I have a problem with is the invisi-check thing. There’s an obvious reason why they’re invisible. Maybe they’re just on for a second to talk to someone about something and don’t want distractions. Maybe they like their privacy. Maybe they just damned well feel like it. No matter the reason, it should be their personal choice, and to take that away from them is something that I don’t agree with. The invisibility is there for a reason, guys, and really there’s no difference between that and poking a hole in the women’s shower to peek through in my opinion.
Its upto Yahoo! to patch the program. Obviously Buddyspy risks personal security from say males stalking females on Yahoo!
Unsakred is not to blame for Yahoo!s own mistakes, and if you think Buddyspy is bad, you phone Yahoo! and tell them, not unsakred.
*quirk* …using n8r’s little comparison there, do you blame the guy showering for leaving the door open? Or the door company? Or the intruder? Do you blame the clothes company if a girl wears hooker like garb and then gets raped? We’re not telling anyone, it’s a personal opinion. It’s not as if we’re all emailing Unsakred saying “Ur a big m3@ni3 p00! BAH!” *laughs* Seriously, what you’re saying makes very very little sense n3. It’s a poll, regardless of the fact that unsakred is a member here, we’re disgussing a program just as we would any other.
It’s a program, it’s up to the responsibility of the people who use it to use it properly, any program can be misused. Nobody’s blaming Unsakred, you’re jumping to unintelligent conclusions. Actually read what people are saying before opening your mouth.
– The program isn’t at fault.
– The people using it aren’t at fault.
– Yahoo! are at fault.Only Yahoo! can stop the program…
Unsakred has made it very easy for Yahoo! to do this. The ball is in Yahoo!s court, as far as tennis is concerned.For those people saying Buddyspy is bad, I suggest you contact Yahoo!
BS rocks!
Hey, you’re entitled to you’re own opinion there, kid, but I seriously suggest taking an outside look at this, you’re obviously skewed since you’re a user. Everyone has a responsibility when using a program and that is using that program (or any knowlege a person has) in a responsible manner.
Yeah, there are obvious flaws that yahoo could remedy, but they might just have a few more important things to concern themselves with, and really going and saying those people who said it’s bad contact yahoo is a bit overeggagerated as well. *shrug* to each their own if you want to blow it out of proportion.
“More important things to do”
I would imagine the priority of this program getting patched couldn’t be any greater. Unless Yahoo! don’t value its customers nor the security.
I’d like to know what the more important things are…
I guess we’ll never find out eh?
On a side note:
See you later, i’m off to bed. I’ll reply further on this thread tomorrow.Oh I don’t know, like maintaining what they have going right now? I personally wouldn’t know since I’m not a member of the Yahoo team, but anyone who works on a large team like that, maintaining half the things yahoo maintains will tell you it’s a trial. Never the less, it’s not exactly as if this is a life threatening problem.
Its funny, you’re acting as if this is a real problem, yet you take advantage of it? Really what does that say about your scruples. Don’t overexaggerate the problem unless you want to make yourself out to be some kind of heinous opportunist.
While the Yahoo! Messenger Team is large, its split up into different teams to deal with different subject matter. So yeah, its not like they don’t have the man power.
In some cases Buddyspy is life threatening, as some females do get threated on Yahoo! and it makes them insecure in real life. They might double check doors and windows after encoutering a malicious male on Yahoo!, who has convinced the female victim that the male attacker has her name, cellphone, home address, ip address. This isn’t a isolated case on Yahoo!, it happens regulary. Phone up Yahoo! customer care, i’m sure they would confirm this from the many abuse reports they get daily from worried females who use chat and messenger.
This subject actually touches a few different teams on Yahoo! and all 3 will preassure each other to get it fixed, until the poor Yahoo! Messenger security guy gets pushed into a corner to fix the problem.
The problem being that Buddyspy aids malicious users to abuse, threaten and stalk victims who they have fantasies with. Be in no daze of how serious stalking is, even over I.M. and the real life effects and mental emotion it has on its victims, especally females, who alot of the time live by themselves and as you can imagine get on edge, once claims have been made to them over I.M regarding personal saftey and security.
Believe me, for females, Buddyspy is a real problem, and if its a real problem for Yahoo! consumers, then its upto Yahoo! Messenger Team to garentee the personal saftey and security of its users, whenever and whereever possible.
Time and money for a big corporation like Yahoo!, and they only usually act upon security issues, if and when money and profit becomes the problem, where the given flaw or bug / issue has a direct effect.
Anyways, i’m off to bed – cya tomorrow.
Well I admit I did use buddy spy when it was first released, and its a very handy tool. Then one day I really thought hard about it, If I was invisible and a buddy was checking my status, how would I feel about it, well I wouldnt like it one bit. So I deleted buddy spy and gave my buddies the privacy they want, JMO! ~TB~
EDIT: Purple font removed. Please only use colour to highlight important points, do not use it for the entire post. Thank you.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.