Do any Windows freeware apps habitually access the private contents of the clipboard upon mere invocation of the app?

Do any Windows freeware apps habitually access the private contents of the
clipboard upon mere invocation of the app?

Which specific freeware Windows apps would that be that access saved
clipboard data upon mere invocation of that app, and clearly without you
asking them to?

On the Apple newsgroups, it was posted that many iOS apps habitually access
the private information on the clipboard, sans any user request whatsoever,
to which the Apple users repeatedly and endlessly claimed that Windows apps
do this exact thing all the time.
o Famous iOS apps are snooping on the Pasteboard - Learn Worthy, by Ant
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/misc.phone.mobile.iphone/XXaeEvEB79Y

What apps do you know of on Windows that access the clipboard every time
you invoke those apps without you wanting those apps to have that data?
--
Usenet helps all of us improve our technical skills by sharing with others.

Arlen Holder wrote:
Do any Windows freeware apps habitually access the private contents of the
clipboard upon mere invocation of the app?

First problem, Arlen, is with your newsgroup list.

Windows 10 has two kinds of applications, Win32 and Metro

Windows XP has one kind of application, Win32.

I then have to assume the question was placed in the
three groups, so I would use a Venn diagram and
conclude the question is about Win32 applications.

The answer for Win32 applications is, there *is* no
concept of privacy in the clipboard. The operator of the
computer, the desktop, the applications, they're owned
by the same user. In the old days, there was no contemplation
of Cloud computing and "over-reach". Consequently, there
is no protection.

A relatively simple scheme, is to wipe over some text
say, and select "copy" and overwrite the last clipboard
usage, so that if another program starts, it cannot see
whatever was in the clipboard previously. Such a model
breaks down, if it turns out the clipboard in an OS
is capable of multiple entries in MRU order, in which
case you'd have to flush the clipboard N times. And perhaps,
need a "clipboard viewer application" to review clipboard
state.

For Metro, please consult the labyrinthian collection
of boolean permissions in that stinking Settings wheel.

It gets worse. With the appropriate Cloud setting, your
clipboard could be copied to another device (plus
Microsoft sees it):

https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/...s-10-clipboard

"To share your clipboard items across your Windows 10 devices,
select Start Settings System Clipboard.

Choose Automatically sync text that I copy under Sync across devices.
"

"How to clear clipboard history on Windows 10"

https://pureinfotech.com/clear-clipb...ry-windows-10/

"Open Settings.
Click on System.
Click on Clipboard.
Under 'Clear clipboard data' click the Clear button.
"

Yeah, it's a computer, and it's being naughty again.

Paul

On Tue, 17 Mar 2020 23:55:09 -0400, Paul wrote:

Windows 10 has two kinds of applications, Win32 and Metro

Hi Paul,

I apologize if the question wasn't clear...
o Sometimes, it takes a few passes to fully clarify the question.

I'll try to be specific that the subject line was carefully chosen that the
answer is expected to be a list of apps, or, no apps whatsoever, that have
already been caught accessing the clipboard upon invocation only - without
a single command by the user to do so (as this is what happens on iOS).

You are always purposefully helpful so I hope we can stairstep to narrow
down the answer to a specific list of apps that have been caught accessing
the clipboard (which is what we have on the iOS newsgroup) without any user
action whatsoever, simply by invoking the app (which is exactly what was
reported on the iOS newsgroups to be rampant).

It's fine if the answer includes Metro, but, to answer your question about
Metro, I don't plan on ever using a Metro app, so I certainly wasn't asking
about Metro apps - but it's fine if the answer includes Metro apps as all
that matters is the technical factual truth.

The question was and is which apps have already been caught accessing the
clipboard WITHOUT any user input whatsoever except for the invocation of
the app (which was reported to be rampant on the iOS newsgroups).

The answer for Win32 applications is, there *is* no
concept of privacy in the clipboard.

That's not the question though.

To put it into perspective, all of us can rob banks, but only some of us
actually rob banks. All of us can steal apples from the grocery store but
only some of us steal apples from the grocery store. All of us can hit
little old ladies on the head with baseball bats, but only some of us stoop
so low as to be caught hitting old ladies on the head with baseball bats.

Just because an app _can_ read the clipboad every single time it's invoked
doesn't at all mean that the app _does_ read the clipboard.

The relevant question is what apps have been caught reading the clipboard
upon EVERY invocation of the app, WITHOUT any request by the user to do so.

"How to clear clipboard history on Windows 10"
https://pureinfotech.com/clear-clipb...ry-windows-10/

This is useful as an ameliorative move, but only if apps are actually
caught accessing the clipboard without any input from the user other than
invoking the app.

The question is which apps have been caught accessing the clipboard without
ANY input from the user except for the user invoking the app (which was
reported to be rampant with iOS apps).

Yeah, it's a computer, and it's being naughty again.

This question has almost nothing, if not nothing, to do with the operating
system; it has only to do with apps caught accessing the clipboard without
any user intervention whatsoever, simply by invoking the app (which was
reported to be rampant in iOS apps).

Again, just because anyone can throw rocks at windows, only some people are
caught throwing rocks at windows.

Do any Windows freeware apps habitually access the private contents of the
clipboard upon mere invocation of the app?
--
Sometimes, on Usenet, it takes a few passes to fully clarify the question.

Arlen Holder Wrote in message:

The question was and is which apps have already been caught accessing theclipboard WITHOUT any user input whatsoever except for the invocation ofthe app (which was reported to be rampant on the iOS newsgroups).

You probably mean also except clipboard content managers,
as they access clipboard on background purposely.

--
Poutnik ( the Wanderer )

On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 06:10:23 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Libor Striz wrote:

You probably mean also except clipboard content managers,
as they access clipboard on background purposely.

Hi Poutnik,

A. How do we prevent this from happening (for _those_ apps that are known)?
B. How can we most easily _test_ if a given Windows app is doing this now?

I know you well where you sometimes play silly games (akin to nospam) which
just waste our time, and other times you actually provide immense value.

Let's hope your intent today is to provide adult value to the topic.

To answer your question, I had clearly assumed it was obvious that it was
already assumed, a priori, that the user was well aware the question is
about listing specific Windows apps _unintentionally_ accessing the
clipboard, merely upon invocation, without the users' express permission.

However, given Paul's response that any app can rob a bank, one may ask
reasonably why the desired list of apps even matters.

1. The original reason for asking was that it was proven that scores of
iOS apps currently do this without the user's consent, which the
Apple posters repeatedly blamed on Microsoft - which I wanted to see
if that was a verifiable fact, or not.

2. However, even without that being the original impetus for the question,
it's still a valuable topic to discuss on this newsgroup for _just_
the Windows apps (ignoring that scores of iOS apps were caught).

3. The output is expected to be a list of apps that are known to do this.

As a bonus, two other outputs can reasonably be expected from an adult
erudite conversation on this topic, namely:

A. How do we prevent this from happening (for _those_ apps that are known)?
B. How can we most easily _test_ if a given app is doing this right now?
--
Usenet helps all of us improve our technical skills by sharing with others.

In article , Arlen Holder
wrote:

1. The original reason for asking was that it was proven that scores of
iOS apps currently do this without the user's consent,

as do apps on other platforms, as you were repeatedly told by several
people

which the
Apple posters repeatedly blamed on Microsoft

nobody blamed anyone.

Arlen Holder Wrote in message:

I know you well where you sometimes play silly games (akin to nospam) whichjust waste our time, and other times you actually provide immense value.

Let's hope your intent today is to provide adult value to the topic.

This is one of your games
I am not going to participate on.

--
Poutnik ( the Wanderer )

In article ,
Libor Striz wrote:
Arlen Holder Wrote in message:

The question was and is which apps have already been caught accessing
theclipboard WITHOUT any user input whatsoever except for the invocation ofthe
app (which was reported to be rampant on the iOS newsgroups).

You probably mean also except clipboard content managers,
as they access clipboard on background purposely.

No. They would be on the list.

--
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in compliance with said RFCs, the actual sig can be found at the following URL:
http://user.xmission.com/~gazelle/Sigs/Noam

Arlen,

Do any Windows freeware apps habitually access the private contents
of the clipboard upon mere invocation of the app?

No. As there are no private clipboard contents. Everyting in there is
public (that info is just a google away).

Yes. With the ammount of freeware apps its quite likely one of them will
access/have accessed the clipboard when invoked. Like one of the several
simple clipboard-sharing programs.

What apps do you know of on Windows that access the clipboard
every time you invoke those apps without you wanting those apps to
have that data?

:-) You didn't quite think that thru, didn't you ?

The problem you are describing there is not that of a program (for good or
bad) reading the clipboard, but the intention of the person (not the
program) who, knowingly or not, places data onto the clipboard.

In short: Its not the freeware apps problem (regardless of intention), but
that of the user.

The (obvious) solution ? Do not use programs which place data that /you/
want to keep private onto the clipboard. ...Which will be a bit hard as
even a simple cut-and-paste uses the clipboard, but hey. :-)

Though the solution to that is easy: Run those programs in their own
"sandboxes"*, with clipboard sharing disabled.

*full ones, or even just a small wrapper which intercepts the clipboard
requests and either reroutes them to program local storage or encrypts the
data and stores them under a private format.

Bottom line: Your "lets create a list of bad clipboard accessing programs"
is both futile (there might be new ones tomorrow) as well as not in any way
a solution to the actual problem (keeping your clipboard-stored data safe
from other programs).

I hope we can stairstep to narrow down the answer

Which should have started with thinking about the question itself - on
multiple points.

One of them being that your wish to compile a list of clipboard-reading
freeware programs is already a solution itself, one /you/ regard as needed
to solve the actual problem. And as you can probably tell, I do not
regard your choice of it as anywhere near good, or even an attainable goal.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

"R.Wieser" wrote

| Do any Windows freeware apps habitually access the private contents
| of the clipboard upon mere invocation of the app?
|
| No. As there are no private clipboard contents.

Good way to put it. Arlen seems to be trying to
perfect "our" list of best freeware recipe database
programs by weeding out spyware.

Visual Studio 6 is one program that's famous for
bad design in that respect. It apparently uses the
Clipboard when it starts up. Once started, the
Clipboard is blank. That bug still sometimes catches
me. I copy a code snippet, open VB6... woops.

I seem to remember that Firefox also once did
that, but it doesn't now.

As far as I know there's also never been anything
like a rule that the Clipboard should be erased when
a program closes. Though PSP5 has a nice featu
If there's a lot on the Clipboard it warns that I'm
leaving a lot of data in memory and asks to confirm
if I want to leave it for use in another program.

"Mayayana" on Wed, 18 Mar 2020 08:35:51
-0400 typed in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:
"R.Wieser" wrote

| Do any Windows freeware apps habitually access the private contents
| of the clipboard upon mere invocation of the app?
|
| No. As there are no private clipboard contents.

Good way to put it. Arlen seems to be trying to
perfect "our" list of best freeware recipe database
programs by weeding out spyware.

Visual Studio 6 is one program that's famous for
bad design in that respect. It apparently uses the
Clipboard when it starts up. Once started, the
Clipboard is blank. That bug still sometimes catches
me. I copy a code snippet, open VB6... woops.

I seem to remember that Firefox also once did
that, but it doesn't now.

As far as I know there's also never been anything
like a rule that the Clipboard should be erased when
a program closes. Though PSP5 has a nice featu
If there's a lot on the Clipboard it warns that I'm
leaving a lot of data in memory and asks to confirm
if I want to leave it for use in another program.

So the question comes, is there a means to "clear" the clipboard?
Other than copying a blank space to paste later?

--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

Though PSP5 has a nice featu
If there's a lot on the Clipboard it warns that I'm
leaving a lot of data in memory and asks to confirm
if I want to leave it for use in another program.

Current version still does this!

--
Garry

Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org
Classic VB Users Regroup!
comp.lang.basic.visual.misc
microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion

On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 10:13:32 +0100, R.Wieser wrote:

In short: Its not the freeware apps problem (regardless of intention), but
that of the user.

Hi Rudy,

Name just one.

The question isn't who "can" rob a bank, since anyone can; the question is
which apps have already been proven to be currently reading the clipboard
without user action nor desire, simply upon the mere invocation of the app.

Without an app name, the question isn't being answered, where I'll note in
the iOS thread, it was _proven_ (based on the cited article) that the iOS
apps do it - where the iOS users repeatedly blamed Windows for that
happening on iOS.

NOTE: The quoted text below is verbatim.
Dated: March 14th, 2020
o Famous iOS apps are snooping on the Pasteboard
https://learnworthy.net/famous-ios-apps-are-snooping-on-the-pasteboard

1. "Apps on iOS and iPadOS have unrestricted access to the system-wide
general pasteboard, also referred to as the clipboard"

2. "An app that accesses the pasteboard can also read what has been
copied on a Mac if Universal Clipboard is enabled"

3. "Access to the pasteboard in iOS and iPadOS requires no app permission
as of iOS 13.3"

4. "Security risks of this vulnerability have been thoroughly discussed in
Precise Location Information Leaking Through System Pasteboard

https://www.mysk.blog/2020/02/24/precise-location-information-leaking-through-system-pasteboard/

5. "Our findings only documented apps that read the pasteboard every time
the app is opened"

6. "However, apps can delay snooping on the pasteboard until some time
or event takes place (e.g. signing up), hence they are not included
in our findings."

Here's an alphabetical listing of some of the apps caught doing this:
o ABC News: com.abcnews.ABCNews, com.abcnews.ABCNews
o Accuweather: com.yourcompany.TestWithCustomTabs
o Al Jazeera English: ajenglishiphone
o AliExpress Shopping App: com.alibaba.iAliexpress
o AMAZE!!!: com.amaze.game
o Bed Bath & Beyond: com.digby.bedbathbeyond
o Bejeweled: com.ea.ios.bejeweledskies
o Block Puzzle: Game.BlockPuzzle
o CBC News: ca.cbc.CBCNews, com.H443NM7F8H.CBSNews
o Classic Bejeweled: com.popcap.ios.Bej3, com.popcap.ios.Bej3HD
o CNBC: com.nbcuni.cnbc.cnbcrtipad
o Dazn: com.dazn.theApp
o FlipTheGun: com.playgendary.flipgun
o Fox News: com.foxnews.foxnews
o Fruit Ninja: com.halfbrick.FruitNinjaLite
o Golfmasters: com.playgendary.sportmasterstwo
o Hotel Tonight: com.hoteltonight.prod
o Hotels.com: com.hotels.HotelsNearMe
o Letter Soup: com.candywriter.apollo7
o Love Nikki: com.elex.nikki
o My Emma: com.crazylabs.myemma
o New York Times: com.nytimes.NYTimes
o News Break: com.particlenews.newsbreak
o NPR: org.npr.nprnews
o ntv Nachrichten: de.n-tv.n-tvmobil
o Overstock: com.overstock.app
o Pigment Adult Coloring Book: com.pixite.pigment
o Plants vs. Zombies Heroes: com.ea.ios.pvzheroes
o Pooking Billiards City: com.pool.club.billiards.city
o PUBG Mobile: com.tencent.ig
o Recolor Coloring Book to Color: com.sumoing.ReColor
o Reuters: com.thomsonreuters.Reuters
o Russia Today: com.rt.RTNewsEnglish
o Sky Ticket: de.sky.skyonline
o Stern Nachrichten: de.grunerundjahr.sternneu
o The Economist: com.economist.lamarr
o The Huffington Post: com.huffingtonpost.HuffingtonPost
o The Wall Street Journal: com.dowjones.WSJ.ipad
o The Weather Network: com.theweathernetwork.weathereyeiphone
o TikTok: com.zhiliaoapp.musically
o Tok: com.SimpleDate.Tok
o Tomb of the Mask: com.happymagenta.fromcore, com.happymagenta.totm2
o Total Party Kill: com.adventureislands.totalpartykill
o ToTalk: totalk.gofeiyu.com
o Truecaller: com.truesoftware.TrueCallerOther
o Viber: com.viber
o Vice News: com.vice.news.VICE-News
o Watermarbling: com.hydro.dipping
o Weibo: com.sina.weibo
o Zoosk: com.zoosk.Zoosk
o 10% Happier: Meditation: com.changecollective.tenpercenthappier
o 5-0 Radio Police Scanner: com.smartestapple.50radiofree
o 8 Ball Pool: com.miniclip.8ballpoolmult
--
Usenet allows purposefully helpful adults to share solutions with others.

Arlen,

In short: Its not the freeware apps problem (regardless of intention),
but that of the user.

Name just one.

I already did. And as it does not make any sense to repeat already given
answers, I suggest you re-read my previous message.

the question is which apps have already been proven to be currently
reading the clipboard without user action nor desire, simply upon the
mere invocation of the app.

Kiddo, repeating the same question again doesn't help to clarify what you
are after. Also, I already explained why that that "without user action
*nor desire*" part (emphasis mine) is problematic. Which you now have
ignored.

Besides, if all you are out for is to show iOS lovers that Windows freeware
programs have the same behaviour than all you need is just one or two (or at
most a handfull) of those aps, which doesn't come near to your "which apps
have", which seems to indicate you need a long, if not full list. Thats
just wastefull.

And there is another problem: some programs may habitualy be reading the
clipboard without any action or desire of the user, but that does not
automaticaly mean that there is any malicious intent - but instead possibly
just an uniformed (by choice perhaps) user.

Did I already say "Which should have started with thinking about the
question itself" ? You really should you know. The better the question,
the more chance you get a usable answer.

Without an app name, the question isn't being answered,

Than I suggest you take a peek at the public data AV comanies and virus
hunters offer. You know, google for it (yourself).

where I'll note in the iOS thread
......

I've ignored everything from that point on, as it doesn't seem to have the
slightest to do with Windows.

Usenet allows purposefully helpful adults to share solutions with others.

Usenet also allows leeches to prey on the helpfull, and giving nothing in
return.

A. How do we prevent this from happening (for _those_ apps that are
known)?

I've already given you the answer to that. Put them in a VM or otherwise
intercept their access to the clipboard. The isolation can be made to
work in both directions.

But, trying to isolate the baddies would be like trying to use a list of
names to keep muggers at bay: No matter how many muggers you blacklist there
will always be more, new ones. You stand a much better chance by
isolating the "good" programs which clipboard contents (read: even simple
copy/paste actions) should not be accessible by the world & dog.

Ofcourse, the /best/ solution would be to stop installing random crap you
(can) find on tha intarwebz. If that can't be done (addictions come in
many forms :-) ) another, easy one, could be to at add a malware scanner
next to the virussscanner.

B. How can we most easily _test_ if a given Windows app is doing this
now?

/Easiest/ ? Just ask someone else to do it for you. :-)

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 02:56:34 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:
Do any Windows freeware apps habitually access the private contents of the
clipboard upon mere invocation of the app?

Which specific freeware Windows apps would that be that access saved
clipboard data upon mere invocation of that app, and clearly without you
asking them to?

That's easy. Any clipboard manager software does that. i.e. at program
startup, it'll read the current clipboard contents and save it into its own
list of clipboard data. It'll also monitor the clipboard, and whenever the
contents changed, it'll be copied into its own list of clipboard data.
MS-Office softwares such as Word and Excel also do this too, because they
have built in clipboard manager.

As other have said, there's no such thing as private and public clipboard -
at least in Windows. However, in Windows, there can be multiple (true)
Desktops (not to be confused with virtual desktop).

Like the normal desktop and the logon screen which are actually two separate
Desktops. Also the normal Desktop after switching to other user while
keeping the previous user logged in.

Each Desktop has its own set of clipboard data storage, application windows,
etc. A Desktop can be shared among multiple users, and can also be made to
be accessible to a single user only. This includes access to the clipboard
contents of the Desktop. It all depends on the security attributes of the
Desktop.