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Mac Forum / Applications / Eudora / February 2007



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Does Eudora Phone Home???

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DC1999 - 18 Feb 2007 17:48 GMT
I recently installed a program named Little Snitch on this MacBookPro,
and one of the first requests for permission to "phone home" was for
something named "fatboy-vip.qualcomm.com on TCP port 80."

I presume this has something to do with Eudora contacting it's
developers -- but about what?

The Eudora folk already have my email and contact info since I had to
give it to them to pay for the product.

Does anyone know what Eudora or Qualcomm are doing with this
contact???

Thanks for the help.

Dave
David Empson - 18 Feb 2007 19:33 GMT
> I recently installed a program named Little Snitch on this MacBookPro,
> and one of the first requests for permission to "phone home" was for
> something named "fatboy-vip.qualcomm.com on TCP port 80."
>
> I presume this has something to do with Eudora contacting it's
> developers -- but about what?

Possibly Eudora getting advertisements, if it is in sponsored mode.

If it is operating in free or paid mode, it might fetch ads anyway, in
case it gets switched to sponsored mode.

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David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz

Alex Wenzel - 19 Feb 2007 22:15 GMT
> > I recently installed a program named Little Snitch on this MacBookPro,
> > and one of the first requests for permission to "phone home" was for
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> If it is operating in free or paid mode, it might fetch ads anyway, in
> case it gets switched to sponsored mode.

AFAIR, it was discussed in several forums about Eudora/Win32 that it
"phones home" even in Paid mode. Some people claim that this goes
beyond what's necessary for fetching ads and qualify it as spyware.
It wouldn't be surprising if the Mac version does the same, be it
"spyware" or not.
You have a good point in "might fetch ads anyway, in case it gets
switched to sponsored mode", although that's hardly necessary.
R. Millstein - 20 Feb 2007 06:45 GMT
> > > I recently installed a program named Little Snitch on this MacBookPro,
> > > and one of the first requests for permission to "phone home" was for
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> You have a good point in "might fetch ads anyway, in case it gets
> switched to sponsored mode", although that's hardly necessary.

I have a vague recollection that Eudora is gathering statistics, but I'd
have to do a lot of digging to confirm that.

Roberta
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Roberta Millstein
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Christian - 20 Feb 2007 17:21 GMT
> I have a vague recollection that Eudora is gathering statistics, but I'd
> have to do a lot of digging to confirm that.

Yes it does, but it does not phone home unless you send the data. For
the  usage statistics, a new mail message is created and Eudora asks you
to send it (or not). You have the choice whether or not you want to let
them know how you use Eudora.

Christian, Eudora user since approximately v1.3 or 1.4.

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Christian F. Buser, Hohle Gasse 6, CH-5507 Mellingen (Switzerland)
Hilfe für Strassenkinder in Ghana: http://www.chance-for-children.org
Für die Werber: <mailto:windows@mus.ch>

dave28c@mac.com - 21 Feb 2007 14:21 GMT
> > I have a vague recollection that Eudora is gathering statistics, but I'd
> > have to do a lot of digging to confirm that.
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> Hilfe für Strassenkinder in Ghana:http://www.chance-for-children.org
> Für die Werber: <mailto:wind...@mus.ch>

I've been using Eudora in paid mode for over three years, first on
Windoze machines and now on two Macs, and I've never seen a self-
generated message from any machine back to Eudora "home" asking my
permission to send it.  I would therefore conclude that its gathering
of statistics or other communication home is done secretely and
without disclosing that fact to the user.  Perhaps this feature of the
program is set forth somewhere buried deep in the EULA, but I haven't
looked at that in so long, I certainly neither recall it nor could I
even find the EULA again.  Does anyone know where it is?   I'd like to
have a look at it.

Dave
Kathy Morgan - 22 Feb 2007 03:52 GMT
> I've been using Eudora in paid mode for over three years, first on
> Windoze machines and now on two Macs, and I've never seen a self-
> generated message from any machine back to Eudora "home" asking my
> permission to send it.

I got that message once (3/4/00) fairly soon after upgrading to
whichever version first generated it.  It was totally inoccuous, so I
went ahead and sent it.  If anyone would like to see it, let me know &
I'll be glad to send you a copy in email.  (I could post it, but it is
very long--36k of text.)  It includes at the bottom of the message a
complete legend at the bottom of the file explaining each of the
messages.

> I would therefore conclude that its gathering
> of statistics or other communication home is done secretely and
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> even find the EULA again.  Does anyone know where it is?   I'd like to
> have a look at it.

On my particular system, it is a file named SoftwareLicense.rtf and
located in my Eudora Applications folder, but it doesn't mention the
usage stats message and I couldn't find it in the manual, either.

Actually, I suspect the message is no longer generated.  I've upgraded
several times since then and it never was generated again.

sig--
Kathy - If you're reading this in your web browser from Google or
similar forum, NNTP "newsreaders" are a better way to access the
content. <http://www.aptalaska.net/~kmorgan/how-it-works.html>
Links to NNTP newsreaders at <http://www.newsreaders.co
Peter Ceresole - 22 Feb 2007 07:48 GMT
> On my particular system, it is a file named SoftwareLicense.rtf and
> located in my Eudora Applications folder, but it doesn't mention the
> usage stats message and I couldn't find it in the manual, either.

On my system (OS 10.3.9, Eudora 6.1.1 Light) that file is just a
software license. No great surprise, I guess.
Signature

Peter

John H Meyers - 21 Feb 2007 23:58 GMT
On Sun, 18 Feb 2007 11:48:45 -0600, Dave wrote:

> I recently installed a program named Little Snitch on this MacBookPro,
> and one of the first requests for permission to "phone home" was for
> something named "fatboy-vip.qualcomm.com on TCP port 80."
>
> I presume this has something to do with Eudora
> contacting it's developers -- but about what?

> Does anyone know what Eudora or Qualcomm are doing
> with this contact???

Query:
 nslookup jump.eudora.com

Result:
 Name: fatboy-vip.qualcomm.com
 Aliases: jump.eudora.com

It's the universal URL that's used for most anything
(*other* than ads) that sends Opera to use a web browser,
including when you finally register,
and probably the version update check (which you can disable).

If you put "jump.eudora.com" into your local "hosts" file
with an address such as 127.0.0.1 or even 0.0.0.0,
this will certainly block all such transmissions
(try to register or "profile" afterwards, for example).

Re optional statistics for Qualcomm Eudora development:
http://eudorabb.qualcomm.com/showthread.php?t=9008
http://eudora.com/privacy/

-[ ]-
John H Meyers - 22 Feb 2007 00:25 GMT
Additional link re the *optional* usage stats:
http://eudora.com/techsupport/kb/2110hq.html

Also quoting from
http://eudorabb.qualcomm.com/showthread.php?t=9008

"it's Eudora that's asking. It collects usage statistics
and periodically asks your permission before sending them to QUALCOMM,
complete with a legend to let you read what's being sent."

"the usage stats contain no personal information
and cannot be sent without your permission"

Turning off even being asked to send usage stats:
<x-eudora-option:DontShowAudit=1> [Windows]
<x-eudora-setting:13509=32000> [Mac]

Turning off automatic "new version" check
(most all modern software does such checks):
<x-eudora-option:DontShowUpdates=1> [Windows]
http://www.eudora.com/techsupport/kb/2111hq.html
<x-eudora-setting:305=y> [Mac]
http://www.eudora.com/techsupport/kb/2122hq.html

And don't phone my home, either :)

-[ ]-
John H Meyers - 22 Feb 2007 01:43 GMT
Typo in previous message:

> Query:
>   nslookup jump.eudora.com
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> It's the universal URL that's used for most anything
> (*other* than ads) that sends Opera to use a web browser,

Opera[xxx] ==> Eudora
[Opera is *my* browser, my neurons are crossed :]

> including when you finally register,
> and probably the version update check (which you can disable).

[...]

-[ ]-
R. Millstein - 22 Feb 2007 02:22 GMT
> Query:
>   nslookup jump.eudora.com
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> including when you finally register,
> and probably the version update check (which you can disable).

[...]

> Re optional statistics for Qualcomm Eudora development:
> http://eudorabb.qualcomm.com/showthread.php?t=9008
> http://eudora.com/privacy/

And the privacy page you link to above gives an explanation that is
consistent with what you say about the jump.eudora.com URL:

"Eudora 4.3 or greater running in Sponsored mode, Light mode or Paid
mode, whether purchased in a retail store or downloaded electronically,
regularly contacts QUALCOMM update servers to check if newer versions of
Eudora are available. If a newer version is available, Eudora will
notify the user and give the user the option to upgrade. The user has
the ability to disable the update check at any time. Instructions for
disabling this feature can be found at eudora.com for Windows and Mac
versions of the software. The program also checks to see whether the
logo of a co-branding affiliate should appear in the Light and Sponsored
modes. No personal information whatsoever is transmitted back to
QUALCOMM during these processes."

Roberta
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Roberta Millstein
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John H Meyers - 27 Feb 2007 05:42 GMT
By the way,
here are the names and IP addresses of all the Eudora-related servers:

This group all contacts the same address:
ads.eudora.com = pipes-vip.qualcomm.com = 192.190.109.20
adserver.eudora.com = pipes-vip.qualcomm.com = 192.190.109.20
eudora-survey.qualcomm.com = pipes-vip.qualcomm.com = 192.190.109.20

This server does almost everything else:
jump.eudora.com = fatboy-vip.qualcomm.com = 192.190.109.32

This might be the same server,
but anyway handles all personal info over SSL:
eudora-secure4.qualcomm.com = fatboy-ssl-vip.qualcomm.com = 192.190.109.33

None of the above has changed since this post of Aug 10 2004:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.mail.eudora.ms-windows/msg/9a368c9efa5a82d2

-[ ]-
 
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