Reader D.P. (and no, the P does not stand for Pogue) is concerned about a System alert that appears from time to time. Mr/Ms P writes:
I was recently scared by a sudden request that “PubSub Agent wants to use your confidential information stored in ‘idisk.mac.com (myloginname)’ in your keychain. Do you want to allow access to this item?” I deny access each time this message comes up (daily). Is this an attack or just a benign part of OSX 10.5.2?
Today’s Gambling Tip: When you have the choice to take either the Yes or No side of an Is This An Attack? bar bet, put your money on No. (Bonus tip: Ditto in regard to Is This a Virus? wagers.) Vegas will never give you such good odds.
This alert appears when you sync bookmarks with .Mac. Specifically, according to Apple, “The PubSub agent syncs the RSS read/unread status of bookmarked RSS feeds between computers using Mac OS X 10.5 that are syncing bookmarks via .Mac Sync.”
The next time the alert appears, just click Always Allow and you won’t be bothered again.