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Class Action Filed Against Bonzi Software
An anonymous reader writes: "A nationwide class action lawsuit was filed on November 25, 2002, in the Superior Court of Spokane County against Bonzi Software, Inc. Bonzi is among the world's most prolific issuers of internet advertising banners. Bonzi's website has been ranked as one of the most frequently visited websites in the world. In case you are wondering Bonzi is the company responsible for those irritating popup ads which say things like 'Your computer is broadcasting an internet IP Address...' and 'Your internet connection is not optimized ...'" The attacking lawyers provide some samples of the ads they say are misleading.
plz see definition #2 below...
www.m-w.com
Main Entry: hijack
Pronunciation: 'hI-"jak
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1923
1 a : to steal by stopping a vehicle on the
highway b : to commandeer (a flying airplane)
especially by coercing the pilot at gunpoint
c : to stop and steal from (a vehicle in
transit) d : KIDNAP
2 a : to steal or rob as if by hijacking b : to
subject to extortion or swindling
- hijack noun
- hijacker noun
So yeah...if you wanna get technical, it IS "to subject to extortion or swindling"....and thus hijacking.
When in doubt, parenthesize. At the very least it will let some poor schmuck bounce on the % key in vi. (Larry Wall)
Well, the solution is easy. Download Mozilla 1.2 and when you see one of those pesky banners, right click it and select "Block images from this Server". Your bandwith is reduced and your eyes get a rest.
Do you have a domain registered through NetSol? Have you paid your $960 advertising fee to that company yet? You know the one, it sends out an invoice once a year or so.
When I got it, I knew it was bogus (it said my ad would list me under gas stations or something like that), but it also looked like any of the other invoices my small business dealt with. Anyone not intimately familiar with my business dealings would probably have paid it without a second thought. It's only after you carefully read the entire document that you see very small print admitting that it was a solicitation, not part of an ongoing contract... although once you fall for the scam once you'll get real invoices for years.
In that case the issue isn't whether or not they can create business directories and a kilobuck for the entry. It's that their ads are literally indistiguishable from invoices without careful study or intimate knowledge of the particulars.
It the same thing with Bozo Software. The issue isn't so much the product they offer, it's the fact that their advertising is deliberately designed to be look like legitimate system messages. They stand out on Linux boxes, but on a Windows box they can fool even experienced people who don't exercise extraordinary care.
The content of the messages also tend to be deceptive. As others have pointed out, "broadcasting your IP address" is a term of art, popup ads are incapable of checking IP stack performance, etc.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
"Bonzi Buddy" is a pile of steaming sh~t trojan horse program that brings up a fuzzzy purple gorilla on the screen. (It used to be a parrot in older versions.) It tells jokes, acts as an e-mail client, tries to sell you add-ons, profiles your browsing habits, etc.
The scariest part is that some people actually like this trojan horse piece of garbage.