Aim spying on me?

[REDDFOX321]

i visited my C:\Documents and Settings\*Owner*\Application Data\Aim\*screename*
directory and found a file named "listing". when i opened it up it had all sorts of listings of my music directory. Is aim spying on us?

[tekno]

I looked through that same directory on my machine and couldn't find a file called "listing"

I did however find some other interesting files that have some cookies for some of aol's ads and a file containing directory paths to the AIM tmp file.

What version of AIM are you using?

[lekt0r]

I use Gaim myself, its an alternative to AIM, minus the ads/cookies. There is a version for Windows on their homepage. Gaim

[infernon]

I think that there is another free version called 'Fire', but I use Gaim (which is awesome) as well. 'Miranda' is another client that is a bit rough to configure. IMO, you're better off with some of the free versions because people actually write code for them allowing you to implement tons of features that you wouldn't normally have with AIM. Oh yeah, there aren't any ads, or tracking cookies, or web bugs, or miscellaneous garbage from AOL, etc.
I wonder how their developers sleep at night...

[j3r]

Fire (http://fire.sourceforge.net/) is Mac only, it uses a lot of the same code. In answer to your question, yet, AIM is spying on you. Duh. Hey, did you know that all your conversations go through AOL's servers?

Infernon is right on about the unofficial clients. They tend to care about security & privacy and etc. Trillian and Fire both support end-to-end encryption of conversations, for example.

[sellwill]

From Wired.com--

" In a move to reach the broader market of Microsoft-platform users, Jobs unveiled a fully Windows-compatible Apple iTunes Music Store, an Internet song-downloading service that has proven successful among Macintosh users. Apple has signed an exclusive partnership with America Online, linking songs from the AOL Music site to the iTunes store."

maybe some sinister plot by aol/time warner and apple to keep track of the media on your computer???

just a thought....

[j3r]

Uhh, sellwell, the tracks you buy from the iTunes Music Store have DRM. It's not so much a plot as a published fact. It's like a sinister plot by the phone company to keep track of who you call.

[InfiniteL00p]

SellWell,

Yes, yes.. (aside from what j3r saying being true), everyone can imagine some conglomerate wanting to take a look at what media you keep on your HDD - legal or not - to create another consumer profile of you.

I'm off to get a humanoid barcode tatoo now, excuse me..

[lekt0r]

I'm off to get a humanoid barcode tatoo now, excuse me..

Haha!

[sysmin770]

Are you sharing files through AIM? That may create the file you are referring to so your friends can snag those files off of your computer.