Careful
March 28th, 2002, 03:23 AM
I just wanted to alert people to an unfortunate situation with the Kaspersky Anti-Virus company. Having used and recommended the program for several years, I recently purchased another license for an additional computer. After downloading and installing, I discovered that the registration key was quite old. I contacted Kaspersky (home office tech support in Russia) with my purchase/registration info. They sent an updated key. However, it didn't work in the program.
But I noticed one other thing: within the key, which I opened to check with my word processor, was my personal information -- name and address -- in plain text. I wrote back about the key file not working and that I didn't want my personal info in plain sight in the file (which would also show in the Help | About screen of the GUI) because of the possibility of theft by trojans or remote access programs.
They sent a new file that did work. However, this time not only did my name and address show clearly, but also my phone number. I again wrote, telling them my objection to this and asked for a new key either with phony information (which I supplied them with -- so they could still ID me if needed) or to encrypt the personal info. I explained that since I've been computing I've been careful to never input any personal information into the computer unless it's temporary and in a location which allows me to shred all evidence of it, including the registry. I mentioned that such personal information being so visible is a privacy risk and that this is something that should be avoided -- especially from a security/privacy-product company. I even told them I was a longtime user and supporter, making recommendations to others. The letters were civil -- no anger intended nor displayed.
It appears that Kaspersky isn't too concerned with users' privacy. I never heard from them again. I requested and received a refund from the seller, Digital River. Bye, bye, Kaspersky. It's a shame. It's such a good product. But if a company is going to show little regard for our privacy, they're not my kind of company.
If you Kaspersky users check your key files, you may not have a problem. If you got one that is up to date, it may not show anything personal. But if you have to get a new file in the future, beware. And editing the file to change the personal info doesn't work. It corrupts the file (and is shown as such in the GUI) and the program won't work properly.
You may also wish to check other registered programs you have for a similar situation.
Careful
But I noticed one other thing: within the key, which I opened to check with my word processor, was my personal information -- name and address -- in plain text. I wrote back about the key file not working and that I didn't want my personal info in plain sight in the file (which would also show in the Help | About screen of the GUI) because of the possibility of theft by trojans or remote access programs.
They sent a new file that did work. However, this time not only did my name and address show clearly, but also my phone number. I again wrote, telling them my objection to this and asked for a new key either with phony information (which I supplied them with -- so they could still ID me if needed) or to encrypt the personal info. I explained that since I've been computing I've been careful to never input any personal information into the computer unless it's temporary and in a location which allows me to shred all evidence of it, including the registry. I mentioned that such personal information being so visible is a privacy risk and that this is something that should be avoided -- especially from a security/privacy-product company. I even told them I was a longtime user and supporter, making recommendations to others. The letters were civil -- no anger intended nor displayed.
It appears that Kaspersky isn't too concerned with users' privacy. I never heard from them again. I requested and received a refund from the seller, Digital River. Bye, bye, Kaspersky. It's a shame. It's such a good product. But if a company is going to show little regard for our privacy, they're not my kind of company.
If you Kaspersky users check your key files, you may not have a problem. If you got one that is up to date, it may not show anything personal. But if you have to get a new file in the future, beware. And editing the file to change the personal info doesn't work. It corrupts the file (and is shown as such in the GUI) and the program won't work properly.
You may also wish to check other registered programs you have for a similar situation.
Careful