BitTorrent’s latest update is reportedly coming bundled with a software called Epic Scale, a Bitcoin miner that purports to use your ‘unused processing power to change the world.’
Epic Scale, a Window’s program allegedly being downloaded silently, uses the computer’s processor to mine a bitcoin variant Litecoin.
Bitcoin.Inc was prodded by trusted reviews in the matter and this was the response- “Like many software companies, we have partner offers in our install path and our policy is that they are strictly optional. We aim to work with partners that would appeal to our tech-forward user base. This is the case with Epic Scale, they are lite-coin based and charity focused. They have a great story and you should consider doing a post on what they are trying to achieve.”
When asked about making the installation process more transparent, Bitcoin said- “As with any such offer from any software vendor there is a clear “Accept” and “Do Not Accept” button on this offer.”
Users complained that Epic Scale was downloaded without consent. They apparently noticed only when there was a massive surge in CPU usage. The silent install appears to happen specifically on uTorrent version 3.4.2 build 28913 (32-bit), which is the company’s most recent update, and not on all machines. BitTorrent is known to vary its offers based on user location and other variables.
BitTorrent Inc. informed TF that they are not aware of any problems.
“In terms of user complaints in our forums, we always take these claims seriously. We highly value our users, they are a passionate and tech savvy group. In the last 24 hours we have received less than a dozen inquiries out of several million offers.”
“We have reviewed the issue closely and can confirm there is no silent install happening. We are continuing to look at the issue. But this is most likely these users accepted the offer during install.”
The senior manager for customer support commented on the online forum that- “Epic Scale is a great partner for us to continue to generate revenue for the company, while contributing funds to good causes.” Epic Scale is currently a cryptocurrency miner, but it has future plans to also contribute CPU cycles to other initiatives like Genome mapping.
Bit Torrent simply suggests that affected users uninstall the program from their computers but users complain that even that is particularly hard to do. In a new update by TF they’re now offering assistance and a $20 Amazon gift card to affected users who provide additional details.
(image credit: Bert Kaufmann)
