Preserve Your Privacy

RealNetworks, the maker of RealJukebox, dealt with a PR snake pit when news broke that its program was allegedly sending users' data back to the company. A personal serial number--assigned when you downloaded RealJukebox (or its beefier version, RealJukebox Plus)--was being sent back to RealNetworks, along with the number of songs on the drive, the kind of file formats they were stored in, and other information. RealNetworks quickly posted a patch that blocked some of that data and disabled the serial number.

To see if your version has this patch, choose Help, About RealJukebox. Look for the phrase "Includes Privacy Update" beside the version number near the top. If your RealJukebox doesn't have the patch, you can download the patch. To read a complete account of the privacy changes--and a list of the data no longer collected--head to the RealJukebox Update page.

Even after this patch, RealJukebox still sends some data back to its creator. None of it is connected to you personally, but if you want to further maintain your privacy, choose Options, Preferences and disable these three features on the Internet Settings tab by clearing the appropriate boxes:

• Get CD info from the Internet. RealJukebox sends the Table of Contents code from the CD in the drive.
  
  
• Send configuration info when connecting to technical support. RealJukebox sends some system information to technical support when you click the More Info button on an error dialog.
  
  
• Automatically update the Get Music page when accessing the Internet. RealJukebox sends info about the version you're running.