I recently read that most gnutella clients track and report user activity. I would assume that the bundled spyware in the Basic version does this, but does the Basic software do this itself?

If the Basic software does it, does the Pro NOT do it? I see clearly that the Pro version does not include the bundled spyware, but does Limewire still track and report user activity?

Thats a rumor, nonesense, those so-called spyware can actually
only see things like that (I coded something similiar to put on webpages to track users.):
- System Platform
- System Language
- Time Of Visit
- Screen Resolution & Colors
If you are afraid of banners, thats the thing they can do.

The client itself is not doing things like this,
plus: If you are really afraid you can use Clean Limewire or
Aqualime, these are versions which dont have advertising.

You can find them on www.unitethecows.com

by the way, where did you read that?

The article about bundled spyware.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-257592.html

This article implies that spyware is present in Limewire (bundled or core, it doesn't say):
http://www.slyck.com/newsapr2002/041502a.html
In the following statement:
Web page tracking of users is very different from programs running on a computer. When you think of spyware, think virus. It can do all sorts of things -- watch where you surf, watch what files you download to your machine by watching folders on disk. The limit is the knowledge of the programmer which may or may not be enhanced by deals with the file sharing software creators.

You're paranoid

Paradog - my programming skills are close to zero so this is perhaps a very silly (and paranoid)question - but anywayz - given that some folks appently encrypt files within a file that has the 'surface' appearance of a harmless mp3 file - would it be technically possible to bury an exe file within a fake mp3 file (it could be quite sizable with a label that claimed it was a long/high bit rate song) - then - when activated by a player the file wouldn't play and generate a message to that effect from the player - many of us would've experienced that from time to time and not be particularly perturbed) - but - the file would've activated and would then begin its dirty deeds - scour the hard drive for mp3 files and tag or cripple them before reporting back to some host RIAA.com say

feel entirely free to tell me I'm a complete idiot

bad_vlad

thats not a stupid question,
being paranoid is not really bad. just dont push too far
well, its not possible to build in a .exe in a mp3 file.
you could just rename a .exe into .mp3 but you wouldnt
be able to play it and it wouldnt execute either.

there are some mp3 viruses, but they exploit security leaks
in the media players like microsoft media player and winamp.

check this:
http://vil.mcafee.com/dispVirus.asp?virus_k=99422