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[News] The Dangers of Closed-source Programs

Skype Reads Your BIOS and Motherboard Serial Number

,----[ Quote ]
| An unreadable executable file coming from Skype sounds interesting,
| so I look at it. It's 46 bytes long. For copyright reasons I can't
| post the file or a complete disassembly. However, I can describe
| the program in terms of 16-bit DOS C:
| 
| int main(void)
| {
| fwrite((const void far*) 0xF0000000, 1, 0xFFFF, stdout);
| fwrite((const void far*) 0xF000FFFF, 1, 1, stdout);
| return 0;
| }
| 
| It's dumping your system BIOS, which usually includes your
| motherboard's serial number, and pipes it to the Skype application.
| I have no idea what they're using it for, or whether they send
| anything to their servers, but I bet whatever they?re doing is no
| good given their track record.
`----

http://www.pagetable.com/?p=27

Open vs. Closed

,----[ Quote ]
| Understanding where each method is strong and where it is weak is
| the first step toward process improvement. Instead of focusing on
| either/or decisions, perhaps it is ultimately more fruitful to
| follow both, using each where appropriate. Software engineering
| is a young discipline; time will answer if we approach the question
| with full knowledge of our assumptions and shortcomings.
`----

http://www.acmqueue.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=453

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