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Spyware: Cut Off the Money
Head straight for the source: respected Corporations
The Associated Press has more on NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's lawsuit against adware company Intermix, and how it may be the opening salvo in a much broader spyware war. An interesting quote from a member of Spitzer's team: "The companies with which they deal and companies that fund them realize that this is an illegitimate activity from which they want to distance themselves. No one should infer ... that actual advertisers that drive this activity are immune. They are not."
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woody7
Premium Member
join:2000-10-13
Torrance, CA

woody7

Premium Member

Hmmmmmmm

Just maybe.......

Dr Demento
I Vant Blud
join:2002-01-02
Denville, NJ

Dr Demento

Member

Re: Hmmmmmmm

Congradulations, you have the first post!:D

packetscan
Premium Member
join:2004-10-19
Bridgeport, CT

packetscan to woody7

Premium Member

to woody7
AOL, Microsoft, Time Warner, ok ANYONE that advertises on the web.. Smile your a target!
Taranis
join:2001-12-06
Mount Vernon, WA

1 edit

Taranis

Member

Go get 'em Eliot..

And good luck. For all the spyware I've seen on people's machines, I'd wager he'd end up taking on 75% of corporate america.
Beeper
Part Of The Problem
join:2001-09-27
Dayton, OH

Beeper

Member

Re: Go get 'em Eliot..

said by Taranis:

And good luck. For all the spyware I've seen on people's machines, I'd wager he'd end up taking on 75% of corporate america.
And this intimidates Spitzer how?

He just bagged the CEO of AIG, for crying out loud.

AIG are the guys with nearly 800 billion in assets.
Taranis
join:2001-12-06
Mount Vernon, WA

Taranis

Member

Re: Go get 'em Eliot..

It doesn't. That's the cool thing about it!

keith2468
Premium Member
join:2001-02-03
Winnipeg, MB

keith2468

Premium Member

Re: Go get 'em Eliot..

Once covert adware and spam become defined as unethical business activities (by a test case), the vast majority of large and medium sized companies will voluntarily stop using it.

And those that don't stop voluntarily at that point, become fair game for prosecution.
moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned)

Member

This is exactly what needs to be done.....

Not one of those products or services being advertised with spyware is unaware of what is going on. If they are then someone is playing stupid.

Marketing people track everything and know every single detail of where their marketing dollars go and how much is brought in by various means.

LinuxJunkie
join:2005-01-19
Cyberspace

LinuxJunkie

Member

Re: This is exactly what needs to be done.....

I agree. It also explains why OEMs load of all kinds of spyware-type crap on their machines with ads all over the place for even more of their products. That's precisely one of the reasons I build my own and install what *I* want to install it, not what some big-name PC manufacturer wants to cram down my throat.

Pirate515
Premium Member
join:2001-01-22
Brooklyn, NY

Pirate515

Premium Member

Re: This is exactly what needs to be done.....

said by LinuxJunkie:

I agree. It also explains why OEMs load of all kinds of spyware-type crap on their machines with ads all over the place for even more of their products. That's precisely one of the reasons I build my own and install what *I* want to install it, not what some big-name PC manufacturer wants to cram down my throat.
Same here. I personally build my own desktop computers (but still go with OEMs when it comes to notebooks). However, the first thing I do when I take a Dell, HP (or any other OEM computer for that matter) out of the box is reformat the hard drive and install a clean copy of the operating system.

Curious George
@gambrl01.md.comcast.

Curious George

Anon

Re: This is exactly what needs to be done.....

Just out of curiosity, are you able to use the license key that came with your laptops, or do you have to get a new key to install? I used to work at a PC service shop to pay the bills in college, and a lot of the consumer laptops came with non-transferable licenses that only worked in conjunction with the restore CD - so installing a new copy of the OS meant getting a new license as well.
severach
join:2002-09-12
Jackson, MI

severach

Member

Re: This is exactly what needs to be done.....

>Just out of curiosity, are you able to use the license key that came with your laptops, or do you have to get a new key to install?
Either or! If I install with an OEM disk, I can reuse the key though this time it will ask for activation which should be approved since the key was never activated before and it was sold for whatever hardware you are using. Sometimes you can find an OEM disk coded to the manufacturer which bypasses enterying a key and activation. The key is only required for Windows Genuine.

If only someone would make a Windows XP SP0 60-n-1 with all the different manufacturer disks on it including the slipstream tools. Then via slipstream we could have the latest of every known company's disk.

woody7
Premium Member
join:2000-10-13
Torrance, CA

1 edit

woody7

Premium Member

hmmmmmmm.....

Maybe he should try this with the spamvertisers....

P2PPirate2
join:2005-02-02
New York, NY

P2PPirate2

Member

Thanks for your support

Doesn't surprise me a bit, without the big company support who wanna make spywares or adwares

RayW
Premium Member
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT

RayW

Premium Member

Re: Thanks for your support

said by P2PPirate2:

Doesn't surprise me a bit, without the big company support who wanna make spywares or adwares
Those who make big bucks on scams?

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

sivran

Premium Member

Re: Thanks for your support

Right. They'll be the only ones left, besides overseas advertisers in countries we can't get to, and disreputable local outfits that figure they won't get caught.

Now we need to wait and see if Spitzer actually succeeds against one of these big boys. If not, maybe we need to give him more ammunition (ie, laws with teeth). If he does succeed, then present laws must be adequate.

Ferchrissakefigureit
@taylor01.mi.comcast.

Ferchrissakefigureit

Anon

Duh, NO frigging kidding !!!

As I and many others have been saying for YEARS - follow the money trail and convict these friggin SCUMBAG purveyors of SPYWARE/SPAM/SCUMWARE.

This ain't friggin ROCKET SCIENCE folks !

JDawgers
@comcast.net

JDawgers

Anon

Re: Duh, NO frigging kidding !!!

It will never happen, wishfull thinking only. Most companies pay for ads, they don't tell people how to get the ads out, no way any lawyer will get a dime chasing that lead.

keith2468
Premium Member
join:2001-02-03
Winnipeg, MB

keith2468

Premium Member

Give Eliot Spitzer A BBR Medal !!!

Finally a government official fairly consistently going out of his way to do things right -- and to safeguard the interests of ordinary people !!!

If you guys get bored with Spitzer, send him up here to Canada.

Meanwhile, could we come up with a BBR award system?
damox
Premium Member
join:2002-01-07
Olympia, WA

damox

Premium Member

It only takes about 10 minutes

It only takes about ten minutes to get a computer so filled up with adware/spyware that it slows to a crawl! I once demonstrated this while I was introducing a product called Deep Freeze to members of the staff at work. Obviously if one avoids clicking on any pop-ups and resist enticements for free software, then it takes a bit longer. In that case it could take as much as a couple of days, depending where you surf. It's just amazing how much stuff gets loaded on a computer in the background while merely surfing the internet.