Found this thanks to Rogi:
It seems as if a little extra functionality has been riding along with Kazaa when you download the file/music sharing software — P2P technology that will allow the user’s machine to be integrated into a true P2P distributed computing network.
Well, that’s not such a bad thing — P2P is good. However, the problem is the people who downloaded the Kazaa software did NOT know they were downloading this extra piece of functionality.
Now, it’s true, the company behind the software, Brilliant Digital hasn’t “turned on” the software yet, and won’t without asking first. However, I find the deviousness of this process to be appalling.
I said last year that for P2P to be successful, distribution of the software would need to be viral in nature. What I meant by this, is that one would need to use different approaches to distribute software, such as through email. And that the software would need to be modular and lightweight.
I did NOT mean that the software would be silently attached to other software, and distributed without the user’s knowledge.
My suggestion: if you downloaded Kazaa, dump it. Now. Uninstall it. And then contact Brilliant Digital for specific instructions to follow to ensure that no trace of this software remains on your machine.
And next time — be a little more cautious about what you download.
