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26 Comments
- theeXguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+32Hehe, funny, but ingenious way to fight malware. Too bad it's going to cost them an arm to do it. It's great to see people put their foot down and do something about this scourge of the internet.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+29Exactly who downloads these stupid clients anyways
- JavertHolmes, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23I've been concerned with malware ever since a copy of audiogalaxy I downloaded had spyware embedded in it.
Ever since, I've avoided installing non-well-known programs from the internet, but whose to say that the well-known programs don't have spyware on them? So I install Firefox, but who's to say it doesn't have unknown exploits?
So I install Windows Defender as a backup to what Firefox can defend against, but is it really catching all the spyware? I can never know for sure, so I install Ad-Aware and scan every time I install new software. But who's to say that Ad-Aware someday won't have spyware that Windows Defender doesn't catch? So I run Spybot Search and Destroy to keep Ad-Aware honest and vice-versa.
But whose to say there's spyware in one of the three spyware detectors that the other two don't find? So I run AVG as a kind of catch-all and hope that AVG and Windows Defender together will help.
Then I uninstall Java in case there's some exploit I don't know about. Then I disable Javascript in case there's an exploit that I don't know about. Then I wonder if my copy of Thunderbird has any exploits I don't know about, as even Pine (a text email reader) has had exploits in the past. Then I wonder if my hardware router is firewalling things correctly and not susceptible to some unknown attack. Then I wonder if I should install a computer router between my hardware and network to block outgoing connections to IPs other than the couple dozen or so I visit regularly, but wonder if there's a Linux installation clean enough to guarantee packets are not being forwarded elsewhere as my hardware router can not detect this.
Then I think to run Linux, but who's to say the repositories are safe? That every single binary installation is clean?
Then I think of running new software in a copy of VMWare, but whose to say my copy of VMware is safe?
After a while, I found a solution: I now use the internet from my Commodore-64. - rubikfreak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18They do already. For example:
http://www.google.com/search?q=beautiful+free+screensaver - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+18This is why you do all your shady stuff in a VMWare image.
- kindrobot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Babelfish, huh?
- trogdoor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10But you're still giving the malware companies money...
- fkr3, on 10/12/2007, -7/+15There is a difference between malware and adware. Ad supported isn't necessarily bad, malware is by definition bad. Torrent101 also provides uninstallation instructions for itself and it's sponsor program.
So what's the story here exactly ... you're not allowed to write ad supported software anymore? - huckmank, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Umm, they do. And the fact that they do has started more than one Digg campaign against them.
For instance, one web site waged a campaign because his ***** piece of ***** page was compromised by hackers and installed malware. He commenced a campaign and thousands of clueless digg users helped him. - ifonly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6fkr3, no the main reason for the hatred is due to the false advertising of their programs - they claim they use "unique technology which increases bittorrent speed" etc, the whole thing is unethical.
- toutim, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5The idea is definitely fun, and buzzes onto an enhanced exposure. So beyond the users "saved by the ads", many more people can get a sound of warning of the tricks used in those shady trades...
- Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Look out, there are some wicked C64 viruses. I remember on the TRS-80s you could blow the screen with a POKE command.
- dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Eh? The only people who will download such clients, as stated in the article are "naive users" - who not only won't know how to setup VMWare or such, will probably have no idea such a thing exists..
- huckmank, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Take this ***** for instance. No, please, take him.
http://www.digg.com/software/StopBadware_Destroying_the_Internet_One_Site_At_A_Time - Radar5, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2way to stick it to those mf'ers!
- dtfinch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have this intense urge to click one of the ads, but I think I can resist.
- Kelex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Really great way to warn users about Malware in Programs. Google should do this themselves on pages that host spyware
- Anonymous3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Of course, nothing is stopping dodgy people from doing the same and ripping on a legitimate product on some person's website, getting exposure in the process, if that person was using ads to support their site.
We might be able to discern any bad will around a product by googling around, but what would joe 6-pack do in the above scenario? - ArmchairAthlete, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And it takes all of a couple minutes for them to go into adsense settings and shoot down these ads with the Competitive Ad Filter?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2dupe removed
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Why hasnt anyone asked the obvious question-
Why is Google allowing these spyware sites to stay in the adwords program?
Oh wait- I'll take a wild guess at the answer- because Google makes MONEY from all those ads, no matter how criminal the behavior. As long as Google gets its cut of the action, they could care less about morality. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Bad luck that the clickthru money went to the malware distributors. Unless... several hundred people clicked on the ad several hundred times and got the Google Fraud Squad's attention.
- JavertHolmes, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2s/whose to say/who's to say. I ran out of time to grammar check such a long post. The intent of it is partially tongue in cheek.
- memorex386, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0who the *****... was the person that made this site COLORBLIND?!?!
- zxof, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2I use Adblock, not even seeing any ads...
- Jerky1312, on 10/12/2007, -14/+4This was only a temporary things and it was counter productive. They may have turned away a thousand potential users, but at the same time, the ad money went into the pockets of these malware torrent client creators. It was a display of novelty advertising, which just helps put awareness on these malicious torrent clients and at the same time helps TorrentFreak get cool points amongst its readers and another way to get a story dugg. I dugg the story anyway, because its a novel idea, but its really not effective in the end.
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