Did You Watch the Inauguration on CNN?

I just got an e-mail newsletter from WindowsSecrets.com. The primary article talks about how CNN partnered up with a company called Octoshape to distribute the inauguration last month. I was at work, so I logged in to CNN to watch it. There was a Facebook friends component that made it kind of neat - I was able to chat with friends during this historic moment.

However, to view it, I had to agree to install a Flash component. According to WindowsSecrets.com, that component turned my work PC into a peer to peer (P2P) network node, downloading the content from CNN, but also uploading at the same time. The point for CNN was to offload some or much of the burden/cost of delivering the content. Obviously, I didn't read the entire license agreement before agreeing to install the component, so I had no idea I was opening up a potential security hole on my work PC. Turns out you could have still seen the video without installing it.

Anyhow, the article piqued my curiosity and caused me to check my Add/Remove Software list. Sure enough, Octoshape was there, and I removed it. You might consider doing the same.