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Originally Posted by EvilRix
Ok, I know this is now going a little off topic but I think it's important for anyone considering Sky by broadband to read the following...
Sky really have been naughty. They install a P2P service called KService. You can only turn this off from the service admin screen or from CLI using "net stop KService" but it has a nasty habit of restarting when you reboot, even with the service set to manual (set it to disabled and the Sky client refuses to start). This is because there is also a start-up hook in the registry set to run a program called KHost that restarts the service. Runing MSConfig and removing the KHost hook is no good because when you run the Sky client it re-enters the hook in the registry, restarting KHost and KService! Also, you can't rely on the XP firewall to protect you because KService adds itself as an exception. As for removing it, it's not as simple as just running an uninstall but rather you need to download and run a tool called KClean ( http://www.sky.com/skybybroadband/articles/article04). Is it me or does this smack of malware?
None of this is made clear in Sky's T&C's, in fact this is the sole mention made to P2P...
"Uploading Content - If you download and save content to your computer system (a "File"), during the license period for the relevant File, we may upload parcels of content from the File from your computer system for the purpose of transferring Files to other users of the Service."
The FAQa don't say much either... http://www.sky.com/skybybroadband/faqs
Given that Sky install a P2P client/server that runs all the time and uses bandwidth (and potentially costs you money and maybe gets you into hot water with your ISP) that you can't remove without downloading another tool I really don't think this is good enough. Sky deserve to be rapped serverely over the knuckles for this! |
As I recall, Sky haven't been open at all about how this system works. The fact they haven't readily admitted to installing a service like this makes me wonder just how much else SBB transmits without the user realising.
You may be able to block the service with another firewall, but how many users are going to know how to do that? Also, does the client work with the service blocked? Probably not would be my guess.
I personally don't object to this method of delivery, but I do object to a company releasing a product like this not being open about how it works.
Anyone else think that if NTL had done something like this, certain people (who seem to be very pro SBB) would be complaining like mad?