From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

I was investigating installing MacPhoneHome for my iBook. It's a utility
that claims to be able to find the "exact location" of the computer and
sends it covertly to a designated email address every time the computer
is connected to the Internet. But when I attempted to download the
trial software, Safari spat the dummy and warned that it couldn't
identify the indentity of "www.pcphonehome.com", noting that it was
signed by an unknown certification authority, with the attendant risk it
may be a spoof site.

Not the sort of thing you want happening with a utility that is going to allowed access to some pretty deep layers of your Mac.

Comments anyone?

--
IRO
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

In article <snufkin-422BCE.06262320042006@lust.ihug.co.nz>,
Snufkin <snufkin@ihug.ko.enzed> wrote:

I was investigating installing MacPhoneHome for my iBook. It's a utility that claims to be able to find the "exact location" of the computer and sends it covertly to a designated email address every time the computer
is connected to the Internet. But when I attempted to download the
trial software, Safari spat the dummy and warned that it couldn't
identify the indentity of "www.pcphonehome.com", noting that it was
signed by an unknown certification authority, with the attendant risk it
may be a spoof site.

Not the sort of thing you want happening with a utility that is going to allowed access to some pretty deep layers of your Mac.

Comments anyone?

I have no experience with MacPhoneHome or the company that makes it.
However based on their list of features, the software has no need of "...access to some pretty deep layers of your Mac." There's nothing on
their web site that seems to suggest it would need any kind of unusual
access at all.

I'm a little skeptical about how exact the location is, but I can't be
certain enough about it to write them off. They look to be overstating
the accuracy to me, but that doesn't mean the software wouldn't be
useful.

The web site warning is a little weird, not necessarily a sign of
trouble, but not good either. It's probably no big deal, however having
said that I think I might want to contact them before buying anything
through their site.

--
Tom "Tom" Harrington
Macaroni, Automated System Maintenance for Mac OS X.
Version 2.0: Delocalize, Repair Permissions, lots more.
See http://www.atomicbird.com/
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

Snufkin wrote:

I was investigating installing MacPhoneHome for my iBook. It's a utility that claims to be able to find the "exact location" of the computer and sends it covertly to a designated email address every time the computer
is connected to the Internet. But when I attempted to download the
trial software, Safari spat the dummy and warned that it couldn't
identify the indentity of "www.pcphonehome.com", noting that it was
signed by an unknown certification authority, with the attendant risk it
may be a spoof site.

I'm guessing the download form you fill out to get the download
redirects to an HTTPS page, and Safari is notifying you that the
certificate that is associated with these pages is not verifiable.

This may be something as simply as you not having a local cert for their
CA, or they are using a self-signed cert.

Of course, the lack of a properly setup site certificate has no bearing
on the quality (or lack thereof) of the software offered by the site.
--- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system


Snufkin wrote:

I was investigating installing MacPhoneHome for my iBook. It's a utility
that claims to be able to find the "exact location" of the computer and
sends it covertly to a designated email address every time the computer
is connected to the Internet. But when I attempted to download the
trial software, Safari spat the dummy and warned that it couldn't
identify the indentity of "www.pcphonehome.com", noting that it was
signed by an unknown certification authority, with the attendant risk it
may be a spoof site.

Not the sort of thing you want happening with a utility that is going to allowed access to some pretty deep layers of your Mac.

Comments anyone?

It gets really good reviews http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9328

--- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

Tim Crowley <timmyturmoil@gmail.com> wrote:

Snufkin wrote:

I was investigating installing MacPhoneHome for my iBook. It's a utility that claims to be able to find the "exact location" of the computer and sends it covertly to a designated email address every time the computer
is connected to the Internet. But when I attempted to download the
trial software, Safari spat the dummy and warned that it couldn't
identify the indentity of "www.pcphonehome.com", noting that it was
signed by an unknown certification authority, with the attendant risk it may be a spoof site.

Not the sort of thing you want happening with a utility that is going to allowed access to some pretty deep layers of your Mac.

Comments anyone?

It gets really good reviews http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9328

That reference gives a couple of brief positive comments, but the actual article is no more than the company's press release, it's not a review.
I have seen good reviews.

My own experience wasn't so great. I downloaded the trial version (and
one can test it for thirty days before buying, so nothing is lost by
trying), and it never worked. It was supposed to send an email every
twentyfour hours as a check that it is working but it never did so. I
asked them for an uninstaller, as they suggested, but what they sent me
was not the uninstaller but a file they needed to create an uninstaller.
I was not impressed. Fortunately, in the course of our discussion, I got
enough information to be able to uninstall it myself.

There seem to be enough copies of MacPhoneHome and PCPhoneHome out there
for it to be a sensible product if it works for you.

The alternative is Peter Scholes's Undercover (or his earlier LapCop),
which is somewhat similar, and which seems to work fine.

Both of them supply the IP address of a computer that is connected to
the internet, from which the police can obtain from the ISP the physical address of the internet connection.

Several people have commented that these programs can be sidetracked by reformatting the drive, as even an Open Firmware password can be
bypassed.

Having had a laptop stolen, I feel this view is rather like refusing to
buy a steeringwheel lock for a car just because sufficiently
sophisticated criminals can overcome it.
--
http://www.decohen.com
Send e-mail to the Reply-To address;
mail to the From address is never read
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