A "legal botnet" might seem like an oxymoronic statement. At best, it's risky phrasing. Most associate "botnets" with hordes of hacked computers controlled by a hidden botmaster with monstrous machinations, more often than not illicit profiteering.But "legal botnet" was the term used by Russian developer Alexey Khripkov (who also goes by oxothuk, amongst other names) when describing his access to thousands, possibly millions, of Android devices thanks to his wildly popular games on Google's platform. His plan to monetise those games was via a crytocurrency miner, which would use up the phone's computing power in the background to carry out the mathematical puzzles required to unlock coins of various alternative currencies, mainly Magicoin. In recent months, he added the capability to Puzzle, a game with 10 million downloads, hoping all those users would help him turn a tidy sum.....
...."'Legal botnet' is only words. It means I have control over thousands of devices," he said, responding to questions about the phrase, which he'd previously used on a Bitcoin forum earlier this year. "I do not do any evil things like illegal botnets... In my app you can control mining, you enable if it's acceptable for you or disable if you do not want it. It is not hidden for users, so it is fully legal....
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https://0xbt.net/news/view/20321/
