Spyware blog

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Yahoo's Offers New Anti-Spyware Tool...
That Actually Finds Spyware

Yahoo's Offers New Anti-Spyware Tool...
That Actually Finds Spyware 08/05/2004 03:50 AM
It appears that Yahoo heard the backlash loud and clear a few months back when they released an anti-spyware tool that just so happened to skip over adware from Yahoo partners. The latest version, built on PestPatrol's technology will now default to notifying users of both "spyware" and what they consider to be "adware" and then give the user the choice of what to do. I haven't tested the product yet, but it sounds like they're moving in the right direction. It still makes you wonder what they were thinking in offering a purposely crippled offering. People know what spyware is, and telling them that spyware isn't spyware doesn't change how people feel about it. It also doesn't make them look kindly back at the company that provided them with the bogus anti-spyware tool in the first place.

Yahoo's Famed Anti-Spyware App Allows
Spyware From Partners

Yahoo's Famed Anti-Spyware App Allows
Spyware From Partners 06/02/2004 10:10 AM
We didn't write about Yahoo's new "anti-spyware" toolbar that they announced last week, because it seemed to receive plenty of hype, and there were no real reviews of how it worked. There are so many so-called anti-spyware applications out there that don't actually stop spyware and adware for fear of upsetting marketing companies or out of worries that actually stopping spyware may make some applications stop working (upsetting the user), that we figured Yahoo's anti-spyware app (hype and all) probably wouldn't be much to bother with. It certainly looks like that may be the case. eWeek is now reporting that Yahoo tries to dance the careful dance of not upsetting certain companies who threate n to sue people who call their application spyware. Of course, the situation is even more complex because Claria (who you probably know as Gator - despite their attempt to change their name to shake that spyware label) is also a partner of Yahoo. So, it's really not surprising that the default setting for Yahoo's anti-spyware app won't actually remove services like Gator or WhenU. Instead, Yahoo's spyware remover claims these programs are "adware" and will only remove them if you click and extra check box each time you run the program. In other words, once again, you can't trust a provider of anti-spyware software, because they're playing both sides of the fence: partnering with providers on the one hand, and then offering weak removal products on the other. If Yahoo were serious about removing spyware from the computers of users they would refuse to partner with companies that used surreptitious tactics to be installed on computers. Instead, they want to look good to users in the front, while letting in spyware/adware from partners through the backdoor.

AOL Offers Spyware Stopper... Just After
They Started Offering Spyware

AOL Offers Spyware Stopper... Just After
They Started Offering Spyware 04/22/2004 02:36 AM
Just a few weeks after saying that they're going to start bundling spyware/adware with their instant messenger product, AOL announces their latest anti-spyware application. While we've been complaining about anti-spyware from ISPs that just points out the spyware, AOL claims that this version will disable (though not delete) the spyware. I wonder if it will catch the spyware that AOL installs themselves.

Spyware Company Sues Utah Over
Anti-Spyware Law

Spyware Company Sues Utah Over
Anti-Spyware Law 04/13/2004 03:42 PM

Trouble finding content for your bl0g?
Heres an idea: Make your bl0g into an
answerbl0g

Trouble finding content for your bl0g?
Heres an idea: Make your bl0g into an
answerbl0g 12/19/2004 03:32 PM
This is a new "trend" that I am seeing amongst some of the blogs I follow: People have started reading their keyword logs and begun answering the questions that their visitors obvisouly have. Mind you, some of the questions that...

Yahoo! Search bl0g Launched (Jeremy
Zawodny's bl0g)

Yahoo! Search bl0g Launched (Jeremy
Zawodny's bl0g) 08/20/2004 06:41 AM
ysearchblog commentators .. background information .. some background info .. weitere Details .. Jeremy Z ..

jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/002431.html
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Wish-of-the-Month Club, Part 1 of 3 -
Archives - Blog - 0xDECAFBAD Blog

Wish-of-the-Month Club, Part 1 of 3 -
Archives - Blog - 0xDECAFBAD Blog 06/18/2004 04:58 AM
0-Click Shopping(tm), using Amazon's Web Services .. Automatic wishlist purchases with Amazon's API .. Make your own wishes come true, once

decafbad.com/blog/2004/06/16/wishofthemonthclub1
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Thanks, Bloggies! BB wins best group
bl0g, and bl0g of the year!

Thanks, Bloggies! BB wins best group
bl0g, and bl0g of the year! 03/14/2005 05:29 PM
Xeni Jardin: Boing Boing pal Scott Beale informs us that our blog just won Group Weblog of the Year at the Bloggies. OMG! What a huge honor! Thank you, Bloggies. We honestly didn't expect this, and we are deeply moved and grateful. There were many other deserving blogs up for awards, backed by talented folks who work very hard, and we raise our collective pirate-eye-patches in their honor: check 'em all out. On behalf of my blog-mates Cory Doctorow, Mark Frauenfelder, and David Pescovitz; our wise "band manager" John Battelle; our sysadmin par excellence Ken Snider; and the rest of the team and extended family that makes Boing Boing possible -- a humble thank you. But most of all, we are grateful to you, our readers, for wasting otherwise productive time on our collective scrapbook of "wonderful things," and for pointing us to even more of those wonderful and undiscovered things each day. We're really sorry that we couldn't make it to SXSW in person to accept the award, but we hope you'll join us in celebrating in person tomorrow at ETCON ( all five of us will be in the same place for the first time). Boing Boing sprouted online a little over five years ago, from paper zine roots planted by Mark Frauenfelder and Carla Sinclair. It is a privilege to blog for you. With you, we look forward to another adventurous year of link-discuss to come. Link

Update: Holy crap! Reader Nathaneal Heasley sez, "Not only did BB win best group ‘blog, it won “blog of the year/best weblog overall” – congratulations!" For those keeping track, this is the second year in a row Boing Boing has received these two awards: Link to 2004, Link to 2005. Man. We're speechless, and overwhelmed by your generosity.

Joho the Blog: Video bl0g

Joho the Blog: Video bl0g 08/01/2004 05:01 PM
video blog .. vlog

hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/002909.html
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The Blog Herald: More bl0g news more
often

The Blog Herald: More bl0g news more
often 12/30/2003 01:34 AM
http://www.blogherald.com/ Yup, that's it.......news about......blogs.......

Joho the Blog: No, I'm not keeping up
with your bl0g.

Joho the Blog: No, I'm not keeping up
with your bl0g. 06/22/2005 02:45 AM
Joho the Blog: No, I'm not keeping up with your blog .. Dear Blogger Letter .. David Weinberger

hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/004138.html
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Google Launches Official Google Blog,
Not Blog Search

Google Launches Official Google Blog,
Not Blog Search 05/11/2004 09:24 AM
Yahoo! May 11 2004 2:11PM GMT

AAA Spyware C.O.P. v10.0

AAA Spyware C.O.P. v10.0 11/13/2003 12:22 PM
This product will scan your P.C. for spyware and adware, notifying you of the infected files, as well as the spyware or adware name. After registering you may use spyware cop as an adware and spyware remover, deleting the infected files and programs. [Shareware $19.95 990 KB]

See how Spyware has taken over a PC

See how Spyware has taken over a PC 05/28/2004 10:46 AM

Want to see what a little program that is full of spyware can do to your system check out this Windows Task Manager. Makes me say ouch. Oh and guess what program it was, the freeware version of Kazaa [ Dave Winer]

Spyware: Where's the fix?

Spyware: Where's the fix? 04/20/2004 04:52 PM
ZDNet Apr 20 2004 9:47PM GMT

What you should know about spyware

What you should know about spyware 04/26/2004 06:19 AM

The Top Ten Spyware

The Top Ten Spyware 03/22/2005 04:23 PM

According to Webroot Inc. and listed in the Inquirer, here are the top ten spyware and adware threats based on detection as well as potential impact.

1. CoolWebSearch
2. Gator
3. 180 search asst.
4. ISTbar/AUpdate
5. Transponder
6. Internet optimizer
7. BlazeFind
8. Hot as Hell
9. Advance Keylogger
10. TIBS Dialer

Read how each works at the Inquirer Website.

Spyware

Spyware 06/16/2004 11:30 AM
Personal Computer World Jun 16 2004 3:31PM GMT

Spyware vs. spyware

Spyware vs. spyware 08/30/2004 03:50 PM
Even as many online marketing companies struggle to comply with recent federal legislation governing unsolicited commercial e-mail -- spam to you and me -- new state and federal legislation addresses another online blight: spyware. From California to Washington, D.C., lawmakers are lining up for the chance to smack down this bothersome byproduct of online commerce.

Learning About Spyware

Learning About Spyware 03/30/2005 11:47 AM
How safe are you really from Spyware? Do you know what really is really lurking in your machines, reporting on where you go and what you do? Does your machine seem slower than it used to be? Is it doing odd, inexplicable things? Before you call the Ghostbusters, maybe it's time to learn about Spyware and [...]

The Year of Spyware

The Year of Spyware 12/31/2004 04:51 AM
In retrospect, the year 2004 made significant milestones that will forever change the future of internet spyware related issues. Various spyware issues were addressed and a fast growing market evolved around spyware. [PRWEB Dec 31, 2004]

Microsoft and Spyware

Microsoft and Spyware 08/13/2004 12:30 PM
My older, wiser brother Steve points out: "Although Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) provides fixes for many of Internet Explorer's persistent security flaws, it does little or nothing about spyware, where "free" software adds code to your system that can capture keystrokes, monitor e-mail and IM traffic, and send the resulting data back to the invader's home base without your knowledge."

RSS, Spam and Spyware

RSS, Spam and Spyware 06/05/2005 11:08 PM

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm a firm believer in using blogs and RSS for distributed conversation. So, I'd like to start a conversation about the threat that spam and spyware pose to our little syndicated world. I brought this topic up with several companies who were at the Syndicate Conference, and I was disturbed to discover how few of them are even thinking about this pending problem.

Most of them replied, "Spam problem? But there isn't one - if someone's feed contains spam, everyone will just unsubscribe!" Well, yeah - but only if we subscribe to individual feeds, which I believe will take a backseat to aggregated feeds. I'll use my own experience with the NewsG ator acquisition as an example: hundreds of blogs contained news of the acquisition, but I was subscribed to very few of their feeds. Instead, I subscribed to dynamic search feeds - that is, keyword-based feeds powered by RSS search engines - which enabled me to listen in on the conversation. Very powerful indeed - but unfortunately, very spammable.

There are already fake< /a> spam blogs, many of which have RSS feeds. Most of the ones I've seen were created to influence search engine rankings, but it's only a matter of time before they use their feeds for delivering spam (I'll wager that some of them already do). These fake blogs are easy to set up, so as soon as one is taken down, it will re-appear somewhere else (much like their spyware-filled brethren, the warez sites), making it tricky to simply filter them out by their subdomain name. My guess is that the main reason we don't see more RSS spam is simply because spammers are waiting for it to be profitable. Now that conferences such as Syndicate are attended not just by geeks and developers but also by investors, they've got to be thinking that the time is almost here. Create a bunch of fake blogs littered with popular keywords, and let their feeds be picked up by the RSS search engines (to their credit, some of the RSS search engine companies I talked with are already tackling this problem).

Even if I'm way off base about how spam will come to RSS, we all know that spammers will find a way to jump on the RSS bandwagon. Given past history, every new social technology needs to think about spam right from the start, or else risk being crippled by it (side note: many implementations of tagging also strike me as being spammable).

Related to this is the fact that RSS enclosures (a.k.a. "podcasts") must look attractive to spywa re creators. Before I added podcast features to FeedDemon, I took a look at how a few of the existing tools were handling them. To my surprise, security didn't seem to be a big concern - they'd even download EXE enclosures, perhaps assuming that the user's anti-virus software would stop them from being executed if they were malware. Couple automatic enclosure downloading with dynamic search feeds which contain enclosures, and you've got a great spyware delivery system. This is why I made sure that FeedDemon used a safe list for downloading enclosures.

If you make a living from RSS, I hope you'll join in this conversation - either here or in your own blog - and let everyone know whether you're thinking about this problem (or, just let me know I'm full of it if you disagree that it's a threat).

Analysis of Spyware

Analysis of Spyware 08/07/2004 11:58 AM

Spyware you do not want to get for
Christmas!

Spyware you do not want to get for
Christmas! 12/22/2004 01:44 AM

As I was installing my Creative Labs PCMCIA sound card, I was shocked to see the amount of "GARBAGE" creative labs tried to install or place in my bookmarks on my PC. Luckily my Spyware program caught all of it and I was able to have it removed before it could become a issue.

Why would Creative do this. The items they were loading wasn't spyware but I sure did not ask for the bookmarks to various sites including AOL to be loaded. They should be ashamed of themselves and offer a apology to all Creative Sound Card owners. That card was not cheap and then they try to load my PC up with advertisments. Well I like the card but they need to be put on the who's naughty list.

Ziff Davis has a great article about some real nasty Spyware that you will want to avoid. Don't forget to included Virus Software, Firewall Software and Spyware Software with all of those PC's your giving or getting for Christmas. [ZDN et]

Spying on spyware

Spying on spyware 06/16/2004 07:35 PM
Nearly one in every three machines checked for Trojan horses or monitoring software was infected, a new survey finds.

Spyware gonna get you sometime?

Spyware gonna get you sometime? 06/25/2004 07:08 AM

My kids who play games on the net and don't really understand that they should not click some things end up being infected with spyware 2-3 times a week and this is with me having 3 applications protecting the machine. At times it gets so bad I just restore the machine. I have become a Norton Ghost expert because of my kids.

But adults are vulnerable also and on average my machine picks up one spyware program a week. I test a lot of software and I visit a significant number of sites and I am sure most of the things I pick up are from software packages. I have been using NAV and Spy Sweeper but after reading Wired's story today I think I am going to give Spybot a run and see how it does.

For a long time I had a link to a site that kept track of what programs out there has spyware built into the programs but it is buried someplace in my 1000's of Favorites. Anyway if your not using Anti Virus software and some sort of Active Spyware program your asking for trouble. Great article by [Wi red]

Spyware becomes pandemic in the US

Spyware becomes pandemic in the US 04/16/2004 06:28 PM
Computer Shopper Apr 16 2004 9:49PM GMT

Yahoo! Against Spyware

Yahoo! Against Spyware 05/27/2004 06:26 PM
Search Engine Positioning and Web Marketing weblog,CA-10 hours agoA week after the Google 'good software guidelines' Yahoo! replies with more than words: Their new Yahoo! toolbar which will be launched ...

Yahoo Vs Spyware

Yahoo Vs Spyware 05/27/2004 04:41 PM
Yahoo has launched a beta of their Yahoo Toolbar designed to help combat spyware and browser hijackers. In addition they have added a forum to their site for users to discuss spyware in general. This is one of the first major internet portals to recognize and attempt to combat the epedemic of privacy intrusion and advertising software being installed on users computers.

Google spyware

Google spyware 11/10/2003 10:57 PM
I just had an interesting experience, which I'm not 100% thrilled with. Over on IRC, I made a casual reference to a URL. http://www.sidhe.org/backgrounds/gif_for_folks_who_link_unasked.gif specifically. It's a GIF I swap in for the real image when I find folks linking to images in the background collection. (For the record, it's the background image from the nifty.org archive of gay/lesbian/bi fiction (though work-safe) and has the twin advantages of being very light (so it tends to obscure white text) and subtly subversive, while still being tasteful) It's not that I care that people look at the backgrounds, nor that they grab...

Spyware Gets Top Billing

Spyware Gets Top Billing 07/03/2004 12:45 AM
Computerworld Jul 3 2004 4:06AM GMT

Spyware Sucks!

Spyware Sucks! 04/19/2004 08:25 PM

The Software Formerly Known As Spyware

The Software Formerly Known As Spyware 12/02/2003 04:14 AM
In October, Gator threatened legal action against a site that dared to call its software spyware. They claim that it's only spyware if it's downloaded without the person knowing about it. Having just spent some of my Thanksgiving vacation removing Gator from my father's computer, I beg to differ. Most people who end up with Gator on their system have no idea how it got there - which appears to fit even Gator's own definition of spyware. Now, despite changin g their name to Claria, it appears that Gator won't be able to shake the critics they threatened to sue. While PC Pitstop agreed to remove pages calling Gator spyware, they' re coming back with a new site that is just as critical of Claria/Gator. Apparently, they've carefully worded the site to abide by the terms of the settlement. They don't call Gator spyware, but give the definition of spyware and then explain how Gator matches that definition. Should be interesting to see how Gator responds. Of course, the angrier they get, the more attention will get drawn to the way they get their application onto computers.

FTC Takes On Spyware

FTC Takes On Spyware 04/19/2004 07:04 PM

Spyware: Where's the quick fix?

Spyware: Where's the quick fix? 04/20/2004 07:11 AM
ZDNet Apr 20 2004 11:49AM GMT

Spyware Living Up To Its Name

Spyware Living Up To Its Name 11/19/2003 02:16 PM
When most people talk about "spyware" they're discussing applications that have the ability to "phone home" with additional personal data about who you are and what you're doing. However, it sounds like some people are creating specific spyware designed to do very specific espionage. The article discusses a piece of spyware that appears to have been targeted at a specific company, looking around their network and then shooting corporate documents out, perhaps to use as blackmail later on. It appears some folks are taking "spyware" to the next level.

FTC Takes Aim At Spyware

FTC Takes Aim At Spyware 04/19/2004 03:07 PM

Is It Possible To Outlaw Spyware?

Is It Possible To Outlaw Spyware? 11/18/2003 01:53 PM
Now that Congress is rushing around trying to outlaw spam, some are wondering if they should turn their attention to the next big annoyance online: spyware. The problem is that it's very very difficult to write a law outlawing spyware that doesn't also outlaw any number of completely legitimate applications. Right now, many spyware products are perfectly "legal", because they hide the details of what they're doing in the very very very fine print within huge, unreadable license agreements that most people agree to without even getting through the first sentence.
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Spyware blog

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