Netscape 6 is Spyware?

spoon00 writes: "AOL is collecting information on what Netscape 6 users are searching for on sites like google.com. IP address, the date Netscape was installed and a unique ID number are other bits of information AOL is also collecting."

Comments

Now it's time..

[dimer0]

Now it's time to skew their numbers, .. I think I'm going to have to do about 14million automated searches for "CROSSDRESSING MONKEY PORNO" using their search bar..

Re:Now it's time..

[prizzznecious]

Considering that your IP is included in that info-bundle they get, you should expect to see some very exotic targeted advertising if you embark on that campaign.

Re:Now it's time..

[smoondog]

Here's the link for that:

Google Search: Crossdressing Monkey Porno

Just doing my part. (I think its funny how google suggests that I meant porn. Anyway,
shouldn't that be pr0n?)

-Sean

Re:Now it's time..

[helixcode123]

Here's the link for that:
Google Search: Crossdressing Monkey Porno

I like google's helpful hint:

Did you mean to search for: CROSSDRESSING MONKEY PORN

Ya know what...

[suckwhat]

I was just thinking, I need more spyware on my PC. A browser is a great idea. Why doesn't AOL just surf for me. Put out an automated browser, and the sites just come up randomly. That way, I don't have to decide what sites I want to pull up. At every site that comes up, they ask you for Name, Address, Zip Code, Date of Birth, Mother's Maiden Name, SSN, Credit Card number, shoe size, and sexual preference.

I can't wait.

Re:So??

[nickyj]

Correct... the next wave is a browser that goes to the site you wanted based off your past browsing pattern. Load up Nutscrape at 4am and it knows your looking for porn, and BAM! it's in your face as the startup page. :P

Simple solution

[Vortran]

pico /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 www.netscape.com

Re:Simple solution

[photon317]

Real men use vi.

Re:Simple solution

[Dunkirk]

Oh boy. Here we go...

so what this really means....

[Dark Marmot]

is that AOL will have logs of all 5 Netscape users.... they aren't marketing genius's for nuthin!!!!

Well?

[Anonymous Coward]

We're talking AOL here. Did you expect a big sloppy kiss?

Re:And the #1 search term intercepted by AOL?

[TheMatt]

I was going to say: "uninstalling Netscape".

Maybe that will be today's!

In that case....

[superpulpsicle]

I am going to type "AOL sucks" a thousand times in the search engine. Spy on that!

Re:Studies have been done...

[blane.bramble]

The most searched topics are adult oriented.

Basically, everyone is usually searching for porn.

Wish I had a link to some of the studies. Does anyone have any links to back me up?

I tried to search for a link to back you up, but the damn search bar kept looking for porn.

Re:So what if it's not a surprise....

[Tackhead]

> People shouldn't be informed they are being spied on and say, "Eh, I figured as much anyway." Would you say that if you found that the CIA had been wiretapping your phone line and/or DSL/Cable line for the past 6 months?

Hell yes, I'd be surprised! The 6-month anniversary of 9/11 is still three days away! (You'll have to ask me again Monday morning ;-)

Then again, I trust the spooks to keep whatever they know about me private; that is, I trust them a hell of a lot more than I trust AOL/TW's marketing department.

How often can you reload:

[leastsquares]

http://info.netscape.com/fwd/lksidus_gg/http://www .google.com/search?hl=en&q=aol+sucks

mozilla source search

[Roundeye]

For those wondering whether this applies to Mozilla

In xpfe components search datasets NetscapeSearch dot src there are 6 matches (see below).

Looks to me like if you enable Netscape searches in Mozilla you get the same thing, but I don't see Mozilla reporting other searches to Netscape.

As far as Alexa goes, since I see people asking about that too (results removed due to lameness filter), there is only one match of relevance, in the xpfe components related resources related-paned (dot) js file (see below).

So, it looks like the "What's Related" panel is the only place where Alexa gets info from the browser.

I had posted a find and grep command which showed 6 hits for the Netscape info information, and 5 hits for Alexa information in the Mozilla 0.9.8 source tree. Informative, terse, useful (IMHO). What follows is my commentary as I tried to get this post under the lameness filter -- resulting in the useless shit post you see above.

Now evidently the last part of this triggered the wondrous lameness filter, so I'd like to say a few things here in hopes of getting this post past: first of all CmdrTaco is a fucking moron. Second what is the deal (and yes, I clearly have the source) with Mozilla's textarea entry widget? This thing is a nightmare to use. Don't even pretend to try to cut-and-paste into this thing if you want to produce readable results.

That doesn't appear to be sufficient so I've removed the lines from the Alexa grep which just provide a copyright notice. CmdrTaco is a fucking mongoloid retard. Still no dice. Fucktard. Lamer fucking idiot. Fuck you and your monolithic Perl script.

Ok. Gone are the info search lines which are in the layout bug tests (and not part of searching). Here's hoping. Nope, no dice. God I wish I were as fucking 1337 as CmdrTaco. I bet I'd get my ass slammed by homeless guys every fucking weekend. This site has become a shithole. How fucking useless. Censoring fucking retard. As if they have any fucking taste.

Now I've taken out all the non-matching Alexa hits. Still no dice. Oh the fucking wisdom in enabling intellectual exchange by censoring trolls and spammers. Oh you've really done the community a fucking service by making it possible for us to edit our posts 12 times so we can have a truly enlightened exchange. You back-assed Michigan Nazi fuck.

Took out the search path, no help, still too many "junk" characters. Too many junk-addicted assholes running this fucking site. I've now actually taken out the find and grep command I used to perform the searches, since I guess that's not informative. Let's see if that works. Nope. Colon off the end of the first sentence... Nope. I removed the path info for the files matching the netscape site... no help.

This is the stupidest shit I have ever seen. I just took out all the matches for info.netscape.com and I'm still triggering the lameness filter. Finally, I removed the Alexa results as well and now the post passes the lameness filter.

So, basically I can't provide a post with any information in it if I want it to appear on the site.

Bye, slashdot, and CmdrTaco -- one last FUCK YOU to you. Shithead.

Re:Is this really a problem for us?

[electroniceric]

But aside from just being a /. poster, you are clearly not the norm because half of MSN's searches come from the address bar, according to Jupiter Media Metrix.

Considering that most major search engines now place links according to payment, it's a short step to turning the browser, or the whole OS into Bonzi Buddy.

Not that I would mind if the OS did some contextual search for me to bring up results while I'm working, but I've seen enough ads for the X10 wireless camera, thank you.

Re:Don't be stupid

[/dev/trash]

B. Write a browser

okay....I just finished. And damn is it fast.

Re:Netscape, IE and Mozilla

[HanzoSan]

IE isnt a browser its part of windows itself, how can any browser ever beat IE? Technically its impossible

Re:Netscape, IE and Mozilla

[Nasheer]

Allright, let's face it: IE is a browser that eats 1.5GB of harddisk, but it comes with mail, chat, conference, clock, disk formating utility, file browser, calculator, fax service, etc.

And it runs MSOffice, ACAD, CorelDRAW, and other apps!!! (Probably as plugins, of course...)

Re:Glad I use mozilla...

[wheany]

I use Navigator 4.08, could somebody tell me if its also spyware or not?

No, it is just crap