It's not just Windows. OS X phones home too.

graybird:

I'm trying to figure out what is the difference between checking to see if widgets are up-to-date and what software update does. I've always been uneasy about all the stuff that takes place in the background when the computer is connected even as it boots up.

Anthony:

Dashboard is just eye candy and is a huge waste of system resources as well. If you disable dashboard (there are websites explaining how to do it - but basically you set up your computer so that it doesn't have a key sequence or other command to launch it) it can't "phone home".

lemnar:

The difference is that when you run Software Update, you initiate it, you see it happening, you know it's happening, or you enable the automatic feature. You're in control. You can turn it off, if you want. With this, no one would have noticed unless they were running Little Snitch, you can't turn it off easily, and you don't really know when it's running, as its behavior isn't even tied to your actions i.e. opening the Help Viewer, running Software Update, etc.

tom:

I honestly don't understand the fuss about it. I do want my applications to check whether updates are available. I live in a connected world. It always amazes me that people mistrust companies like Microsoft and Apple and believe that their automatic software update functions, which benefit users, secretly report what porn sites the user has visited, but then they trust and install little applications like "XP Anti Spy" which - honestly - could do *anything* to your system without your knowledge. Just because it says it's making your system safer doesn't mean it really does that and nothing else, right?

tom:

ps: but even if Antispy does what it claims and nothing else - it's still stupid to have it disable automatic system software update. Do you honestly think Apple and/or Microsoft send copies of your personal documents, emails and porn to their servers, and some bored programmers look at them and make fun of you?

Alan:

This is not the same Microsoft - Apple is not checking in to see if the copy of Mac OS X is "genuine" since OS X ships with a general license, and no activation features. Seeing if software is up to date is not a consumer threat.

Treehouse:

Dashboard Killer will take care of the issue. http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/19248

End of line.

Jeffrey:

Personally I don't see what the big deals is with software phoneing home. If you own a legit copy and the software will perform better overall if it can comunicate with home then why not? All my apps (Anti Virus, Adobe, Office, OSX, etc.) do this and I am delighted to see when a new update is available. Saves me from wasting time checking for updates manually. Plus, if everyone is so paranoid with privacy, why are hotmail, yahoo mail and GMail so popular? People are basically giving their email to companies to read as they please! I have little concern that Apple may know what version my dashboard widgets are.

BillPaxton:

Screw Apple for wanting to keep my Widgets up to date. What a crass gesture. Entirely unacceptable. If given the opportunity I would REFUSE to know if my widgets were out of date. This is ABSURD and i am OUTRAGED. WHAT ABOUT MY RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN?

Oh wait nevermind.

soopafly:

Your story is stupid. Dashboard widgets check to see if it's up to date....that's all.

Magnorock:

I don't understand why we have these automated devices on computers other then the fact that there are way to many end users that just don't understand how to use thier computer and this gives them the ability to not know how to do even more with their systems. Why can't companies respect the fact that some of their users might actually be competent and know how to use their systems and either not need this automation, or want to set up the automation with a server so that thier computers aren't always going out to the Internet to connect and do the work.

John:

Crap article... Checking for updates does NOT equal phoning home!

hobbeswidget:

@lemnar: the clock phones home to, you can't stop that.

90% of all the applications there are phone home to check for updates, and like 1% asks you for permission, 60% has an option to disable it, hidden in the preferences.

God damed, they know I run the translator widget, my privacy is gone! ow wait when I use it it connects to a website, they know to. Where all gonna die!!!

peter:

One could just edit the host file to point apple.com to the localhost and on windows microsoft.com to the localhost,. Of course if you need to visit the website, you will be out of luck unless you use a proxy.

Allen:

I have used little snitch on all my macs for a year now, and I have never caught the dashboard phoning home. Since I don't use the dashboard much this may be a reason, but I am more interested in if it's a specific widget causing the 'phone home'. Again, none of my macs are doing it.

TJ:

Check the Date & Time settings; the Mac's time can be auto-set by a server; the only servers in the list (there are lots of other secondary time servers) are Apple's.

Another: IIRC, default iTunes behavior when I started using OSX is to hook up with the iTunes store.

Another: when I got OSX, the first thing it did was try to "register" me and send the reg. in to Apple.

Daniel Agar:

Many Applications phone home all the time checking for updates, its hardly anything to be concerned with. The difference is WGA is checking the legitimacy of your copy of Windows constantly and may contain the ability to cut you off at any time. Not so with java updates.

adsf:

don't widgets already check for updates anyway?

Graham:

Seriously?!?!?! Please give me a break. How paranoid do we have to get? I've never seen society so brittle and timid over such unfounded fears and concerns.

Who really cares that Apple has a tiny program that connects to their servers to make sure things are up-to-date? Why should anyone care?? It's a harmless service. Sure, some might argue it "opens the door" to further intrusive activities but seriously let's all just calm down as that is probably never gonna happen with Apple.

It's getting really tiring readng about all these petty, trivial issues getting blown way out of proportion. Let's all just take a collective deep breath and relax a little bit.

JFT:

There's a program called Dash on/off that you can install as a preference pane to stop dashboard from "phoning home"...

This is indeed a tempest in a teapot. Apple told you what it did. If you don't want to use the feature, you stop dashboard. It's not like trying to stop Windows Messenger...

If, instead of little snitch, the author used tcpdump, he or she would've seen the contents of what is going "home"... and it's not anything more than your web browser sends or applications send that check for updates automatically.

Comparing this to WGA is pathetic. These aren't even in the same solar system as the big brother junk foisted on people who use Windows. Think it's over, and they aren't going to pursue this "feature" in Vista or beyond? Think again.

Mortimer N. Cobblepop:

One of the most ridiculous stories I've seen - even for a Windoze fanboy, you've really outdone yourself.

Adam Johnson:

Many applications check for updates automatically. What's all the fuss about?

michel:

Why worry if you have nothing to hide? Keep your tinfoil hat on..

Please, this whole article is such a non-issue..If you make a panic like this why not tcpdump the data it sends? Oh wait, that would ruin your sensationalist artcile...

Tim:

I think that article puts it pretty clearly that no untoward activity is going on.

The issue is one of transparency. This kind of thing - benign or not - is a new departure for Apple.

Terry Allen:

Hi again,
I'm a longtime Apple user (pre-Mac) & while I think the majority of Apple software is great, there are a number of things I simply don't use - one of these is dashboard, which was the second thing I disabled when I installed OSX 10.4 (the first was Spotlight). If you're really that worried about it, then I suggest as some have above that you turn it off.

Richard:

Of course the only NTP time servers listed BY DEFAULT are Apple's ... you don't have to choose any of them, just type in the name of your favourite (or local) NTP server and it will use that one instead. The defaults are there because Apple are being kind to you and the 'net ... just look at what D-Link did with their default setting and how it hurt a Danish NTP server!

Shunnabunich:

#5 (Tom): Windows doesn't phone home so Microsoft employees can swap jokes in the break room about your fapping habits. :) Rather, it checks if your copy of Windows is pirated or not. Considering that I don't know a single non-business user who was stupid enough to actually *pay* for *Windows*, I can understand the motive behind that.

#13 (hobbeswidget): The system clock, if that's what you meant, can be configured in the Date & Time pane of System Preferences. To keep it from synchronizing itself with a time server (although you'll then have to take responsibility for keeping it on time yourself), uncheck the checkbox labeled "Set date & time automatically".

Neither the system clock, nor the Dashboard advisory daemon, communicates personally identifying or potentially incriminating information to anyone outside your Mac. If anyone is still panicking over the headline (probably not from looking at the comments above me), IT'S OKAY TO STOP NOW. :)

Dave:

If any process ever bothers someone, they can always delete the daemon....

Steven:

Way to go guys got a lot of hits for this non-story.

Todd:

This article is terrible. I will try to avoid reading articles by Tim in the future.

Alarmist drivel. There is no comparison between what
Apple and Microsoft are trying to do.
Apple is trying to help you by checking if your widgets are up to date.

Microsoft is trying to catch thieves. They assume that everyone is a potential criminal, and that they have the right to deactivate your computer if they suspect your copy is not legit. I would be so mad if I was working on something important with a tight deadline, and some bug in my copy of software update made Microsoft think my computer was not legit, and shut me out so I could not access my files or computer. Tyranny!

Tim, stop trying to get readership by making comparisons between apples and steaming piles of dung (oh, I meant to say oranges). Such headlines just make everyone upset and put you on more readers ignore list.

Tim Gaden:

Hi Todd. I posted another comment along the same lines above, but I'll post it again....

I think that the article makes it clear nothing shifty is happening with the Dashboard advisory. I agree that there is a substantial difference between its actual function and WGA.

However, there is less difference in the underlying principle of "phoning home" without the user's knowledge and outside his or her control.

I thought this was a new departure for Apple, but I was wrong.

Apple tried something similar in iTunes not long ago but later released an update which disabled that feature after substantial criticism from the Apple user community.

Nate:

@#13
good point about the clock, but actually, you can disable that.

and who cares if it checks that it is up to date?
now if it were emailing apple my credit card number and ss number and private documents from my home folder i would have a problem... but it isnt...

Greg Wheeler:

OMG... This is a definate waste of time!

Along with a lot of comments, the people who rebel are the people who have got something to hide!!

Personally, I feel this is somewhat of a blow off from Microsoft's WGA which will make every mac user worried about a school yard rumor, just to get some hype...

Want privacy?: SWITCH YOUR MACHINE OFF!

Kirk Andersen:

ok...I agree with most people that found this article (as Carlos Mencia would say DITT DUHH DUHH). I feel quite secure w/ apple even though this issue was not spoon fed to me. However what no-one has pointed out is that for those of us that are concerned with privacy(those of us who do have nothing to hide, but are aware that in this day and age it is prudent to keep privacy issues in mind) If you don't then its likely that you are familiar to a mac(thus find this article crap) or you cling to your denial w/ your head buried in the sand-or fit the mold of straight(married) w/ 2.5 kids or worse still have W/Cheney 04 stickers on your SUV. My point is that Microsoft, Yahoo etc. had no problem handing the search/email records to Dickhead & Dubya. Therefore I do understand the misplaced concern in this article. Apple keeping my widgets updated w/ out informing me is of little concern. Now what may be disclosed w/ out my consent using XP,MSN etc does concern me as does that I also don't feel comfortable talking on the phone anymore(Guilty of nothing yet having my own opinion and refusing to follow the false prophets that have nothing but money on their minds and spun Christianty into bigotry and fear just to manipulate the sheep to have more money than God.

Lost the vision:

Well, I'm a mac power user and i dont like it one bit. The problem with all these "conveniences" is that it trains the end user ( clearly some of you above) that the corporation/government is "just looking out for my interests". This might be true now, but clearly can change. Corporations, bless 'em, look out for their interests, not yours. It is amazing to me as a canadian, to see americans using that "I've got nothing to hide" line. Apple is a nice enough company, but why should i trust them? Do you think that if DHS is waiting in Job's office one bleak Thursday morning, that he'll do what Barry Bond's buddy is doing for him now? Go to jail, face financial penalties etc? Or, would he do what you would do, which is say "Sure we'll co-operate, can you keep it out of the media?" Also, Apple can , at any time change dashboardadvisoryd to do something else. This is quite obvious, and americans antiquity would have been foaming at the mouth at the idea that their property , posessions, or actions needed the State to maintain them.
For shame.

FuturHopez:

Uh, Just a note. widgets have full access to the computer. someone could've created a virus disguised as a useful widget IF dashboard didn't call home to check if the widget is up to date, when it finds out that apple doesn't have/didn't accept it on their website. so, it was problably a security patch and they just threw in the updator.