Why does Adobe Acrobat 7 Standard secretly phone home?

[Good Man]

Erica Eshoo <evesunflor@sbcglobal.net> wrote in
news:hK%Xi.2583$RR6.593@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net :


> So, the problem is how to RECONFIGURE ACROBAT so that it stops
> connecting to the mother ship without stopping connections that you
> actually want it to make to a desired web page.
>
> Is there any option in Adobe Acrobat (the writer, not the reader) that
> will tell it to stop connecting to the mother ship at Adobe upon every
> use?

No, but as mentioned, use a firewall with specific rule definitions... ie:
don't allow Acrobat to connect to the 'mothership' IP address, but all
other IPs are fine.

[Sebastian G.]

Good Man wrote:

> Erica Eshoo <evesunflor@sbcglobal.net> wrote in
> news:hK%Xi.2583$RR6.593@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net :
>
>
>> So, the problem is how to RECONFIGURE ACROBAT so that it stops
>> connecting to the mother ship without stopping connections that you
>> actually want it to make to a desired web page.
>>
>> Is there any option in Adobe Acrobat (the writer, not the reader) that
>> will tell it to stop connecting to the mother ship at Adobe upon every
>> use?
>
> No, but as mentioned, use a firewall with specific rule definitions... ie:
> don't allow Acrobat to connect to the 'mothership' IP address, but all
> other IPs are fine.


Filtering by application? Sounds like you're suggesting to use the typical
"personal firewall" scam.

An any rate, it doesn't work since the Adobe License Manager Service uses
the Raw Sockets API to simply circumvent it (which I think is legitimate).

[Good Man]

"Sebastian G." <seppi@seppig.de> wrote in
news:5pcj87Fqkh3qU2@mid.dfncis.de:

> Good Man wrote:
>
>
> Filtering by application? Sounds like you're suggesting to use the
> typical "personal firewall" scam.

Scam? That piques my interest... how so?


> An any rate, it doesn't work since the Adobe License Manager Service
> uses the Raw Sockets API to simply circumvent it (which I think is
> legitimate).

How about modifying the HOSTS file then?

[Sebastian G.]

Good Man wrote:


>> Filtering by application? Sounds like you're suggesting to use the
>> typical "personal firewall" scam.
>
> Scam? That piques my interest... how so?


They're promising a lot of things they can't hold even remotely, and due to
horribly broken implementations actually make the system more vulnerable?

>> An any rate, it doesn't work since the Adobe License Manager Service
>> uses the Raw Sockets API to simply circumvent it (which I think is
>> legitimate).
>
> How about modifying the HOSTS file then?


setsockopts(&socket, SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS);

Why are you even suggesting to try playing the cat-and-mouse game? There's
no chance that you could win.

[Erica Eshoo]

On Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:21:47 +0100, Sebastian G. wrote:
On Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:21:47 +0100, Sebastian G. wrote:
>> How about modifying the HOSTS file then?
> setsockopts(&socket, SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS);

I don't fully understand.

1. I (now) understand there is no option to stop Adobe Acrobat 7 (the
writer) from connecting to Adobe upon startup.

2. You can't software firewall block the "application" from connecting to
the Internet because Acrobat web page capture won't work then.

3. But you could add an entry specific for Adobe.com in the hosts file that
would redirect any request specifically to Adobe to 127.0.0.1

4. But, what is with this socket stuff (SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS)?
I don't fully understand.

[Leythos]

In article <T4DYi.19461$Pv2.9441@newssvr23.news.prodigy.net >,
evesunflor@sbcglobal.net says...
> On Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:21:47 +0100, Sebastian G. wrote:
> On Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:21:47 +0100, Sebastian G. wrote:
> >> How about modifying the HOSTS file then?
> > setsockopts(&socket, SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS);
>
> I don't fully understand.
>
> 1. I (now) understand there is no option to stop Adobe Acrobat 7 (the
> writer) from connecting to Adobe upon startup.
>
> 2. You can't software firewall block the "application" from connecting to
> the Internet because Acrobat web page capture won't work then.
>
> 3. But you could add an entry specific for Adobe.com in the hosts file that
> would redirect any request specifically to Adobe to 127.0.0.1
>
> 4. But, what is with this socket stuff (SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS)?
> I don't fully understand.

If you don't mind, why do you use Adobe software and then object when
they want their software to phone home for any reason? This is an honest
question, I really never understand the complaint about using a vendors
software that phones home.

--

Leythos
- Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
- Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling a
drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"
spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)

[Erica Eshoo]

On Thu, 8 Nov 2007 07:50:47 -0500, Leythos wrote:
> If you don't mind, why do you use Adobe software and then object when
> they want their software to phone home for any reason?

As a matter of habit and good computer hygiene, I block all "phone-home"
requests. I bought the software - not a monitoring service.

[M.L.]

> If you don't mind, why do you use Adobe software and then object when
> they want their software to phone home for any reason? This is an
> honest question, I really never understand the complaint about using
> a vendors software that phones home.

There can be a world of difference between the mission of the
programmers and that of the marketing department at large software
companies. Most software does not explicitly divulge that it phones
home.

[Sebastian G.]

Erica Eshoo wrote:


> 3. But you could add an entry specific for Adobe.com in the hosts file that
> would redirect any request specifically to Adobe to 127.0.0.1
>
> 4. But, what is with this socket stuff (SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS)?


SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS is a well-documented standard way for letting every
unprivileged application resolve hostnames while bypassing the HOSTS file.
It effectively makes your 127.0.0.1 entry void. And since it uses a
hardwired list of IP addresses anyway, and could merely bypass the stub
resolver using kernel sockets, or simply change the entry back while
masquerading it, and simply does its own resolving, it's futile anyway.

[goarilla]

Erica Eshoo wrote:
> On Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:21:47 +0100, Sebastian G. wrote:
> On Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:21:47 +0100, Sebastian G. wrote:
>>> How about modifying the HOSTS file then?
>> setsockopts(&socket, SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS);
>
> I don't fully understand.
>
> 1. I (now) understand there is no option to stop Adobe Acrobat 7 (the
> writer) from connecting to Adobe upon startup.
>
> 2. You can't software firewall block the "application" from connecting to
> the Internet because Acrobat web page capture won't work then.
>
> 3. But you could add an entry specific for Adobe.com in the hosts file that
> would redirect any request specifically to Adobe to 127.0.0.1
>
> 4. But, what is with this socket stuff (SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS)?
> I don't fully understand.

it's a system call with arguments the memory address of a pointer and
optional options (SOCKOPT_NO_HOSTS).