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Help bring Aurora Feint back to the app store!!!

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diesel

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 3, 2007
807
25
Sky Blue

Sky Blue

Guest
Jan 8, 2005
6,856
11
No, it's a great game, but a terrible design decision by the programmers. They should remove the community feature, then upload a new version.
 
rdrr

rdrr

macrumors 6502a
Nov 20, 2003
532
1,243
NH
They should have made an on/off feature. Or make it so you had to add contacts to a certain group.
 
C

chrisb3

macrumors regular
Jul 12, 2008
118
0
Brooklyn, NY
Sky Blue said:
No, it's a great game, but a terrible design decision by the programmers. They should remove the community feature, then upload a new version.
Click to expand...

They have one in pending Apple's review. I don't have that big a problem with the community thing. It should be implemented along the lines of how a friends list on the Xbox360 works.
 
T

TonyHoyle

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2007
999
0
Manchester, UK
I don't see what the problem is - you have to type in your email and phone number and it tells you who is also playing... seems fine to me. If you don't like it don't register.

IMO it would be better if it just got that info from system settings. I can never remember my own number..
 
spercharged69

spercharged69

macrumors 6502a
Jul 10, 2003
644
503
New York, NY
TonyHoyle said:
I don't see what the problem is - you have to type in your email and phone number and it tells you who is also playing... seems fine to me. If you don't like it don't register.

IMO it would be better if it just got that info from system settings. I can never remember my own number..
Click to expand...

They were sending your entire contact list unencrypted to their server. While they weren't storing it, if you were playing the game via an open wireless network you would have just blasted your entire contact list in plaintext to anyone with a big enough antenna to receive it. This is a MASSIVE security breach and it has really changed the way I look at apps for the iPhone.
 
Mindflux

Mindflux

macrumors 68000
Oct 20, 2007
1,987
1
Austin
io_burn said:
They were sending your entire contact list unencrypted to their server. While they weren't storing it, if you were playing the game via an open wireless network you would have just blasted your entire contact list in plaintext to anyone with a big enough antenna to receive it. This is a MASSIVE security breach and it has really changed the way I look at apps for the iPhone.
Click to expand...


blah blah blah blah.

Plain text isn't exactly as plain as it sounds.
 
pooryou

pooryou

macrumors 65816
Sep 28, 2007
1,332
65
NorCal
They should show a list of your contacts to you and let you check the ones that you think would even be interested in playing an iPhone game at all...clearly most will not for whatever reason. Then upload the info over HTTPS. And of course this should be something you have to go out of your way to activate and agree to.
 
ayzee

ayzee

macrumors 6502a
Jun 12, 2008
576
35
Twas my most played game on my iPhone, but as soon as I read the story, I removed it straight away. They have betrayed my trust and im guessing apples, and thats why I wouldnt download it again. I was wondering why such a great app was going for free but this may be the reason why...
 
Mindflux

Mindflux

macrumors 68000
Oct 20, 2007
1,987
1
Austin
ayzee said:
Twas my most played game on my iPhone, but as soon as I read the story, I removed it straight away. They have betrayed my trust and im guessing apples, and thats why I wouldnt download it again. I was wondering why such a great app was going for free but this may be the reason why...
Click to expand...

It only does it when you add your name and phone to the community setup. :rolleyes:
 
O

opticalserenity

macrumors 6502a
Apr 14, 2007
596
0
This was a classic example of people who are #1 paranoid, and #2 making a mountain out of a mole hill.

I'm sad the iPhone has users who don't understand what happens when you enter all that information in.
 
spercharged69

spercharged69

macrumors 6502a
Jul 10, 2003
644
503
New York, NY
opticalserenity said:
This was a classic example of people who are #1 paranoid, and #2 making a mountain out of a mole hill.

I'm sad the iPhone has users who don't understand what happens when you enter all that information in.
Click to expand...

Can you post a screen shot of the warning that says "All of your contacts are now going to be broadcasted unencrypted to the Aurora Feint servers"?

Furthermore, if you don't care who views your contacts why don't you open address book and export your contacts then post them here?
 
D

diesel

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 3, 2007
807
25
As mentioned in my original post, I believe the developers did a piss poor job of communicating how the community feature worked. Instead they didn't say a word and in the absence of silence, paranoia from users is apt to set in. If they were open about it and disclosed up front how it worked, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion.

I for one believe them when they say their intent was purely for the advancement of the gameplay and the community and there was nothing sinister about their intentions
 
L

LinMac

macrumors 65816
Oct 28, 2007
1,270
43
Mindflux said:
blah blah blah blah.

Plain text isn't exactly as plain as it sounds.
Click to expand...

Yes, yes it is. It is just as plain as it sounds. Plain text sent over a wireless connection can easily be sniffed out with basic equipment. There are thousands of examples of how this is possible all over the internet using wifi as an example.

SSL/TLS encryption does not add that much overhead in a data exchange and should always be used for information that is considered private.

Take a look at your iPhone's Mail application settings. I believe you'll find SSL enabled for email. :)
 
I

iPegboy

macrumors regular
Jan 13, 2003
212
0
Detroit
If I never went to the community portion of the game, and just played it -- then my information was never sent, correct?
 
Mindflux

Mindflux

macrumors 68000
Oct 20, 2007
1,987
1
Austin
LinMac said:
Yes, yes it is. It is just as plain as it sounds. Plain text sent over a wireless connection can easily be sniffed out with basic equipment. There are thousands of examples of how this is possible all over the internet using wifi as an example.

SSL/TLS encryption does not add that much overhead in a data exchange and should always be used for information that is considered private.

Take a look at your iPhone's Mail application settings. I believe you'll find SSL enabled for email. :)
Click to expand...

Yet you'll freely dial your friends numbers right off your phone which goes through AT&T's switchboard ... uh oh! UNENCRYPTED.
 
C

CommanderData

macrumors 6502
Dec 1, 2007
250
3
io_burn said:
I can't tell if you're trolling or just really don't have any idea how these things work.
Click to expand...

I think he has NO IDEA how these things work. I can and have sniffed pictures, text of web sites, passwords and e-mail contents over wifi. It is scary that they did not try to encrypt/obfuscate the data in any way.

I really liked the game, but I don't know if I will play anymore. Some people actually keep important business contact info on their phones, and not just speed dials to mom and dad. I don't want my contact list going out EVER, even if it's encrypted for transmission it will be decrypted at their servers.
 
M

Mark Booth

macrumors 68000
Jan 16, 2008
1,658
495
Ya'll are missing the bigger picture here! Aurora Feint is just the little fish. The big fish is Apple. The whole point is they are supposed to test these things in advance and the sending of your contacts list in an unencrypted manner is a no-no. (Whether it is OK with some and not OK with others is not the point! It is something that should NOT be done for security reasons!) But Apple didn't catch it. And that makes me wonder what else they might not have caught (or might not catch in the future).

As for Aurora Feint.... I deleted it and I won't give the developers a second chance. I realize there is apparently no evil intent here, but, if they are so amateurish that they didn't give a second thought to transmitting unencrypted personal data, well then... I don't want that type of amateur software on my iPhone.

Mark
 
Night Spring

Night Spring

macrumors G5
Jul 17, 2008
14,883
8,054
While it was very misguided of the Aurora developers to do what they did with the contact list, I'm surprised that Apple allowed this functionaity in their SDK. Who knows what other apps could be reading and transmitting our contact info off our phones/touches, but haven't been "caught" yet?
 
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