The Information Commissioner's Office is investigating whether online bookies are breaking the law.

It has found in favour of two punters who complained about software being downloaded on to their computers without their permission.

The software at the centre of the complaints is called iesnare or iovation and downloads automatically when you log in to some online gambling websites. In some cases, it's downloaded when you visit the homepage.

The manufacturers of iesnare, a company called iovation, said it had "no access to information, such as the winning and losing history of players, nor do we have access to specific betting details".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39493437

Is this the same company owned by UB founders that was working with WSOP.com when it launched?

The very same.

in b4 PokerXanadu rant ....


for ppl, who don't know the back story:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...5-9-a-1329842/
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/57...tebet-1335007/
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...evada-1589570/

When you open an account with a bookmaker who uses ‘iesnare’, usually without you knowing ‘iesnare’ will be downloaded on to your PC, laptop, phone or other e-device. Some companies download it before you deposit funds and therefore have a bet, so the only way you can find out about its use before it is downloaded is to read a company’s terms and conditions (T&Cs) before registering. Incredibly, even this will probably not help as we have yet to read one set of T&Cs that specifically mention the product. From that moment, whether you delete it or not, your e-device will be listed in a world database held by a company called ‘Iovation’ (to our knowledge there is no right for the consumer to have your e-device removed form this database, so it is there for life, even if the e-device, is lent, sold or gifted). The database stores the following details about your e-device and internet access points:

Screen resolution, Device Type e.g. PC, MAC, etc., Operating System e.g. Windows, OS X, Linux, etc., Device Time Zone, JavaScript on/off, Flash on/off, Flash installed?, Flash Version, Flash storage enabled/disabled, Browser Cookies enabled/disabled, Browser Type, Browser Version, Browser character set, Browser Menu Language, Browser Configured Language, IP Address, IP Geolocation: City, IP Geolocation Country Code, IPGeolocation Proxy Flag, IP Geolocation Country Name, IP Geolocation State/Region, IP Geolocation Time Zone, Internet Service Provider (ISP), ISP Organization; Fully-qualified domain name, CPU Count, CPU Speed, Operating System Version, System Model, Component Serial Numbers, MAC Address, DeviceName (MD5 Hash), Device Identifier, Device Locale, Device System Version, OS Build Number, Kernel Version, Kernel Build Number, Flash System Capabilities.

https://justiceforpunters.org/what-i...ow-to-find-it/

Iesnare is scum, Iovation is scum, and the first thing anyone who sports bets does should be google how to remove iesnare and follow those instructions.

Good to hear something is finally being done about it. I certainly don't want anything made by the people behind UB to be installed on my computer and nobody else should either, and that's before we even get into what it actually does.

Don't use an admin account for everyday use.
Turn on full alerts so that the user must the admin pw for every system-changing activity.
Sandbox your browser, or at least install the extension uMatrix, and FFS don't use Edge/IE (might be called IEsnare for a reason).

Those things will prevent the iesnare infection, but won't stop all of the browser-based tracking those sites likely do as well.

How would I know/check if iesnare was hidden somewhere on my laptop?

Search your computer for "iesnare" and "mpsnare".

Ghostery (Chrome extension) blocks it from doing anything. It's listed as "Reputation Manager".

Thanks Imp - it's there. mpsnare.iesnare files modified on 02/16 and 12/16 :/

I guess it could have come from almost anywhere as I am on a lot of sites researching articles about poker and related gambling matters.

I will try to follow oracle's links and get rid of it - I;m a bit of a technotard but I'll give it a go

The main issue in my mind is that this is effectively a hack. Flashplayer is on your pc to play media and flash cookies are there to store your preferences.

iesnare gains unauthorised access to files in your computer over-riding browser settings prohibiting tracking cookies.

https://www.geegeez.co.uk/iesnare-ho...-own-computer/ worth reading + a way to disable it

I primarily make my bets on my iPhone/iPad how can I search for this software on my devices?

It uses Flash so I think you're OK.

I'd like to reach out to the author of the story on the BBC website and help to educate her about the background of iovation/iesnare.

Does anyone here (or lurking) have any connection to Brian Chappell (Justice for Punters) and/or Peter Phillipson, who are both mentioned in the article? If so, could you drop me a PM or email or similar?

I have no connection to them but their website is here I think https://justiceforpunters.org/contact-us/. Grateful for someone knowledgeable talking about the background (Pierson etc?).

Very glad to see Iesnare being investigated, awful piece of software.

Ty Tyrion.

JusticeForPunters are active on Twitter - @gondorffhenry

good stuff, thx

Wow didnt know this was same comaony always wondered what they were when they installed on my comp. Not happy

I think I remember reading bad things about Ghostery. Regardless, uMatrix is way better and not enough ppl know about it - it has all the capabilities of NoScript (minus clickjack), RequestPolicy and uBlock Origin (the latter two being more effective than Ghostery), plus some other features. Easily customizeable for all sites or specific sites.

So I advise using uMatrix + NoScript (with only the clickjack protection enabled).

But something like Sandboxie is more important imo, because even though uMatrix can block everything, it's not like you're never gonna whitelist some elements on a site to unbreak the page. Once you do, you're exposed, and that's where sandboxing comes in.

Oh and set Flash to either Disabled or "Always Ask", not "always enabled". If you're not playing a video (or if the site supports html5), there's probably no good reason you need to let the site run flash.

Is this reported to companies like SpyBot?

At the moment they are happy just to block a few people who are deleting it but if Spybot clears it off everyone's machine and blacklists it then they will have to cave in.

This is the author https://twitter.com/lydrorschach

Thanks Dave (and others!)

I found and removed it from my office pc. Strange that the only poker sw that has ever been installed was PokerStars, WSOP, and maybe the old NV Ultimate Poker.

Also edited the host file as suggested so if it were to get reinstalled it wont be able to connect.