27 ms·

Maxthon browser is a spyware

15 points by ksdev 10y ago

enedil 10y ago
Although I'm a pole, I'd appreciate if this link was posted with translation.
- deallocator 10y ago
  Care to give a TLDR of the article? I'm afraid my Polish isn't great
  - pavel_lishin 10y ago
    Chrome's auto-translation was good enough that it was very readable; you can try Google translate. ksdev also wrote a succinct TLDR here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12095127 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12095127
ksdev 10y ago
English report: https://exatel.pl/advisory/maxthonreporten.pdf https://exatel.pl/advisory/maxthonreporten.pdf TL;DR: It doesn't matter if you agree to join "User Experience Improvement Program" in Maxthon or not - the browser regularly sends this data to Beijing servers: - Windows service pack version, - screen resolution, - Maxthon version, - CPU freq, - Maxthon path, - adblock info, - startup site address, and the most important: - ADDRESS OF EVERY VISITED SITE - full history, with every query entered in google, - every ~5 reports - FULL LIST OF INSTALLED SOFTWARE (with exact versions).
- ksdev 10y ago
  The biggest Polish software news site removed Maxthon from its database: http://www.dobreprogramy.pl/Maxthon-to-spyware.-Polscy-badacze-przechwycili-utajniona-komunikacje-z-Chinami,News,74766.html http://www.dobreprogramy.pl/Maxthon-to-spyware.-Polscy-badac...
zeta0134 10y ago
Holy crap. That is just a ton of information being sent up there. (Also, as solely an English speaker, I'm very impressed with Google Translate's ability to parse this article out into a readable form.) I mean to their credit, the NSA is not in Beijing. I dunno though, this seems a lot worse. What a mess. This is part of the reason I won't buy Lenovo computers anymore. The Maxthon browser is installed by default, along with all sorts of other junkware and god knows what any of it actually does.
JohnTHaller 10y ago
Does anyone know if this has been independently confirmed by anyone else? If it gets confirmed, we'll be pulling it from PortableApps.com as well. Discussion/tracker: http://portableapps.com/node/54786 http://portableapps.com/node/54786

15 points by ksdev 10y ago

enedil 10y ago

Although I'm a pole, I'd appreciate if this link was posted with translation.

deallocator 10y ago
Care to give a TLDR of the article? I'm afraid my Polish isn't great
- pavel_lishin 10y ago
  Chrome's auto-translation was good enough that it was very readable; you can try Google translate. ksdev also wrote a succinct TLDR here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12095127 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12095127

ksdev 10y ago

English report: https://exatel.pl/advisory/maxthonreporten.pdf https://exatel.pl/advisory/maxthonreporten.pdf TL;DR: It doesn't matter if you agree to join "User Experience Improvement Program" in Maxthon or not - the browser regularly sends this data to Beijing servers: - Windows service pack version, - screen resolution, - Maxthon version, - CPU freq, - Maxthon path, - adblock info, - startup site address, and the most important: - ADDRESS OF EVERY VISITED SITE - full history, with every query entered in google, - every ~5 reports - FULL LIST OF INSTALLED SOFTWARE (with exact versions).

ksdev 10y ago
The biggest Polish software news site removed Maxthon from its database: http://www.dobreprogramy.pl/Maxthon-to-spyware.-Polscy-badacze-przechwycili-utajniona-komunikacje-z-Chinami,News,74766.html http://www.dobreprogramy.pl/Maxthon-to-spyware.-Polscy-badac...

zeta0134 10y ago

Holy crap. That is just a ton of information being sent up there. (Also, as solely an English speaker, I'm very impressed with Google Translate's ability to parse this article out into a readable form.) I mean to their credit, the NSA is not in Beijing. I dunno though, this seems a lot worse. What a mess. This is part of the reason I won't buy Lenovo computers anymore. The Maxthon browser is installed by default, along with all sorts of other junkware and god knows what any of it actually does.

JohnTHaller 10y ago

Does anyone know if this has been independently confirmed by anyone else? If it gets confirmed, we'll be pulling it from PortableApps.com as well. Discussion/tracker: http://portableapps.com/node/54786 http://portableapps.com/node/54786