Mark wrote:
> STATE OF PA ADOBE TAX FORMS CONTAIN AKAMIA TECHNOLOGIES SPYWARE
>
> I downloaded some state Adobe .pdf tax forms from the official PA
> web site:
>
> http://www.revenue.state.pa.us/
>
> These forms are "fillinable" meaning you can type personal
> information into the blanks and save the form on your local drive then
> print out the filled in form all nice and neat. These are very handy
> and it is great that the state provides this.
>
> Once the form is downloaded, it exists on MY DRIVE so there is no
> need for this to access the Internet after it has been downloaded.
>
> Now the strange part.
>
> When I open the form from my local drive, (not from the Internet) my
> firewall tells me that Adobe is trying to contact something out on the
> Internet.
>
> Here is the readout I get:
>
> Direction: outgoing
> Local Point: 192.xxx.xxx.xxx, port 1892
> Adapter: Local Area Connection
> Remote Point: a204-2-179-17.deploy.akamaitechnologies.com
> [204.2.179.17], port http [80]
> Protocol: TCP
>
> I looked up Akamai technologies and they are a legit server provider.
>
> I can easily block this by going off line. After about 30 seconds
> Adobe gives up trying to reach the mother ship and the form still
> opens and everything works fine after that.
>
> So here are my questions..
>
> What info are they collecting when I open these Adobe tax forms from
> my local drive?
>
> Can I edit something in the file to stop this so I don't have to wait
> for it to time out each time I open a form?
>
> And I want to express my outrage about this spyware!!

Why anyone would allow scripts to be run from a PDF document is beyond
comprehension to me. Just boggles the mind. When I run into such a PDF,
I immediately delete it.

And I sure as hell would _never_ run any script developed by _any_
government entity. The OH county in which I live tries to pull that crap
with some of their forms. I just said no.

Yeah, running scripts in PDFs are handy as hell. For the data miners.

1) Download and install Foxit.

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

2) Do _not_ install any plugins for Foxit.
3) Delete the Helper Apps PDF settings in all of your browsers.
4) When forced to use PDF, right-click and save the PDF.
5) View and print PDFs _offline_ only.

I only download and print PDFs that I feel warrant being saved
/forever/. And I ignore all PDF hits when using a search engine. In the
two years that I have used this WinXP box, I have accumulated a grand
total of 102 PDF documents. All viewed and printed offline.

I learned a long time ago, contrary to conventional wisdom, that I do
not have to let Adobe nor the users of their products control my life.
Besides that, I only have 140 GB of free HD space which means that I
certainly do not have enough free space to download and install anything
from Adobe anyway. [bg]

Ron