[Updated 2012-02-16: It seems that in my haste (ok, and fury) I stepped on some of the salient points that would have made this post easier to understand. I'll try and add them back in now.]
I was sitting here
[in front of my Mac] talking to someone about GPSs and the software that goes with them. During the discussion, I clicked on a Garmin product
[on the Garmin product webpage] that we were talking about.
[Without warning, consent, or discussion, the application began to install on my Mac.] Did it offer any information? No, it just got installed!
Sure I clicked the wrong thing
BUT THERE WAS NO STOPPING IT! I
tried to stop it, I pulled it out of the dock
(which is normally hidden) and that didn't stop it. I now have this Garmin software installed on the company's computer!
In their
infinite wisdom Apple has not seen fit to create a clean method of removing an application from a machine. Lots of people have come up with sophisticated tools to try and do it but none are assured to work. That means that this application is on my computer no matter if I want it or not. What would be the impact of doing something like this with a controlled product that uses zippitty-do-da class encryption and you were going to travel outside the country?
Now what?
[In my case, the Garmin software I want as a "package" so that I can transport it to a system that has no network access. How do I do that now? The software that we were discussing, when I clicked on the icon is the software I want but not on this Mac, not on my company machine but on my *personal* machine that I have at home which has no network access. Why no network access? Because I don't want it on the net. I use it for *MY* purposes and I don't need to justify that to Apple.]
What a disgraceful POS this idea is. What moron thought this up? How do people come up with these ideas and keep their jobs? No one had the good sense to say
"Gee, we should provide a 'download only' option." No, they're too freakin' smart for that and they think we're too stupid for it
[3]. What idiot decided it'd be a good idea to just install software on the system with no warning, recourse, or agreement?
And then, not to stop there with the good ideas, there's the lovely quirk of the background application that runs without your knowing it so that it can 'call home' and make sure you have the most updated versions of the applications. What? you didn't know about "Storeagent"?
[2] Sure. Apple has decided that it's in
your best interest for them to modify your system so that it calls home on a regular basis for checkups. What checkups? Dunno, no one seems to be sure of what the answer to that is but rest assured, it's in our best interest. Why else would they do it? And what's the agreement on this magic elf running around in the background? What's to stop Apple from
enhancing the offering by making sure .... I don't know.... How about "We'll back up your system to our servers for you!"? Sure it is unlikely but if you don't have any control over the elf, how can you be sure they won't do it?
[I didn't ask for it,
you snuck it into my system without my permission and]
I want this trash the heck off of my system,
out of my life, and so do a lot of other people!
I've been reading "the boards" about this and no, I'm not the first one to complain. And I suspect, not the last. I'm not even the loudest. The comments about all this are fast and furious. Lots of ideas about how to disable and remove it. None are concrete yet. One of the comments someone made was along the lines of:
"If you don't trust the company, don't run their OS."
Ok, somewhat of a valid statement but there's more to it than that. It's not a black/white issue. Trust and security are not digital "Yes" or "No" but they're shades of gray. Security is not an absolute. It's best described as a high wall. The more important what you have to protect the higher wall you put up. You just have to keep in mind that if someone wants what you have bad enough, they will be willing to purchase a taller ladder and breach your wall.
My complaint about the "elf" is that I want security holes closed. I trust people but I always assume that human nature can sneak in. How many of you work with someone who's answer to tough questions is something like "That's someone else's problem." or "Hell, that's good enough, who cares if its done right."? While annoying, it's reality. My personal take on people saying such things is usually an unpleasant response but that's for another conversation.
Sure I have faith in the OS maker for
competence but like the Russians said in the '60s
"Trust but verify." I don't assume that the company (any) is perfect. I watch for mistakes. I don't want to be the guy who is in the textbook under "Sad case of being hacked." and y'know what? For the day-to-day operation of
my system, those two applications, App Store and Store Agent, don't need to run or reach out to the home office. If they need to, they can ask me for permission. Until then, stay out of my way, and leave the door locked.
When discussing security, a smart friend of mine, who's also a Star Trek fan, always reminds me of the scene in one of the ST movies where two characters are in a brig/jail and one says to the other (something like)
"I designed this jail, there's absolutely no way to break out of it, there are no weak spots or flaws to take advantage of."
At that moment, the entire back wall of the jail gets blown open accompanied by the cry of:
"Dontcha know a jail break when you see one!?"
Yea, great movie gag but it's very applicable to this sort of thing too. The folks who come up with the ways of protecting things can be brilliant but they're not (usually) the bad guys who are trying to be kept out. You must,
and I mean *MUST* assume that not everything is perfect and that errors creep into things. So you layer security measures on top of each other to minimize your exposure. Having some wild card punching a hole in your security measures without your knowledge or control is a very bad thing.
Switching perspectives for a moment....
Now, all this has been a rant from the point of a single machine owner, probably like most folks who own Macs
*BUT* there's another side to this whole mess. Apple has been trying to work it's way into the business world. The reason companies purchase INTEL machines running Macro$lop Windoze is because the people
who make money off of them are the ones who are asked
"What should we buy?" If Apple spent more time addressing the problems that
system administrators have to contend with, there'd be more people willing to walk out on that thin limb and suggest Apple products for their companies.
Let's take a scenario here. Some user has a machine that is "company
owned". It is their's to use but it is managed by the IT department. There's rules about what that user can and can't do with the machine. Now Apple hasn't made it easy for the system management process but these SysAdmins struggle through as best they can. So, now comes Apple with this means for letting anyone add software to their system
BY ACCIDENT as well as this magic elf who's doing
who-knows-what to the system without permission. Not smart. Add to that what about when the user has a piece of software that is preinstalled on their system by these admins and a specific version was chosen for good and solid system administration reasons. Like it or not, we chose "this" version and it isn't up to you the user to change it. So, now a user can change that version and who knows what, violate a licencing rule, break a security policy, open a security hole, who knows what. And regardless of the
why the answer is, it's not up to the end user to change it nor is it up to an uninvested and third party to make the choice, decision or to implement.
Apple, smarten up or is that too much to ask?[1] I expect stupid things like this from Macro$lop but not from Apple.
In short:
- Apple not only shouldn't have taken it upon itself to install this spyware. (Yes, that's what it is!) They should have thought out the process a lot more with some professionals who are familiar with the real world use of their systems.
- They shouldn't have disguised it as a system software upgrade/update but made it a downloadable option to add. (aka "Be up front about it.")
- Make it cooperate with the system, user, and company policies.
- When the users began to storm the virtual walls of Apple about it, don't ignore it.
- Don't act like you're doing us a favor!
- Be up front about the security concerns people have and don't ignore them.
[1] (I suppose *I* should smarten up... I purchased the Newton and suffered through the after effects of that too.)
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