Slashdot Mirror
Gator Examined
Ben Perry writes "News.com.com has a story about a Harvard researcher's study on how Gator operates. The report 'provides some data as to how much advertising Gator is showing and to whom it is targeted' and focuses on where Gator replaces a site's ads with Gator's ads. Gator is facing several lawsuits because of this technique."
I've been using Gator for about 3 years, and I am happy with it. I put *.gator.com in Proxomitron block file, and I don't see any ads, none at all. Gator's password saving and form filling features are not perfect, but at least acceptable. My only complaint is a relatively large memory footprint.
I really wish there was an option to entirely disable the download prompt in IE.
Well, we did all kinda know that gator was obnoxious, especially those of us who inadvertently installed it when it was quite new. While what it does is obnoxious, it really isn't as bad as how it gets on peoples systems in the first place.
My experience was that the user was forced to swallow gator along with software that they actually want, and was not told accurately or fully what gator would actually do. Just a nice little flowery version that makes it sound like a good thing.
Bet you won't see that in their prospectus, but it's the truth.
Gator? Ohhh.. you mean one of those things my Privoxy and Squid combo block?
Trolling is a art,
"Eighty percent of the magic is what he'll never see," Eagle said of Edelman and his findings in a phone interview. "He's only touching a part of the elephant."
Wow. Now that's clear, easily understandable logic. I guess it was just too much to refute the study's claims on actual facts, rather than dredging up tired cliches.
I'd really like to know how effectual advertising via annoying popups really can be. I mean I thought it was proven that internet advertising doesn't work. Right now I'm reading slashdot with ads all over it, unless I'm looking right at them I'll never even think twice about them.
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
And Gator would be .... ?
I thought this was going to be some floridian biology course.
"Companies like Google, Overture and Gator are shining examples of success,. . ."
/. article where he says he is doing nothing different than what other advertisers use the postal system for. The two situations aren't even close.
To comapre Google to spammers and spyware manufacturers is like, well, I can't think of anything right now. But the comparison is ridiculous.
Reminds me of the quote from the spammer Scelson from a previous
How can you trust your passwords to an app the likes of gator? It is clear to me that they have to ethical backbone.
"Eighty percent of the magic is what he'll never see," Eagle said of Edelman and his findings in a phone interview. "He's only touching a part of the elephant."
Touching magic elephants?! What do they have in the coffee at Gatpor HQ?
I mean I thought it was proven that internet advertising doesn't work.
Hey, some ads work! I've clicked lots of ads on Google and a few times found really useful stuff.
Spybot seems a bit more comprehensive and user friendly than Adaware, but to be sure I run both. :-)
"We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
There is absolutely nothing in that article that is news to anyone here. Well, except maybe the fact that Sun uses Gator to advertise. I wouldn't have thought they'd stoop that low, especially since many people boycott companies that use services such as Gator to advertise.
I guess it really doesn't matter if I boycott Sun, though. I'm much more likely to implement a Linux solution than a Sun solution. It's all about the Benjamins, and I don't generally do work for companies with unlimited (or even moderately deep) pockets.
jred
I'm not a mechanic but I play one in my garage...
"Eagle contends that advertisers are only permitted to target groups of sites, not individual Web sites. But on Tuesday, after being alerted to the existence of the Berkman study, Gator deleted marketing materials from its Web site that suggested otherwise. The deleted Web page, which had existed since at least February 2002, had promised: 'Gator can pop up your advertising or promotional message anywhere--even at a competitor's site.'" The beauty of the web is that they can delete whatever pages they'd like and archive.org still has them cached and readily available for viewing by the people they tried to keep in the dark.
I checked Freshmeat and SourceForge. It seems that the Linux coders are far behind the technology curve. Just another example of the superiority of closed source software.
- - - If the sun is a star, why can't I see it at night?
It's a program that automatically fills out web forms for you. I'm surprised anyone at all has downloaded it, since I find autocompletion the most annoying thing a web browser can do. They have a bunch of other programs now too, but they all carry the same type of spyware.
There are some times when I hate how many programs esp. on the internet wont work with Linux. Then there is Gator.com and everything is put back in to perspective.
It's nice not getting those popups, "Would you like to set your homepage to gator.com"=]
500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
Frankly I am vehemetly against loosing my computing freedom but I would very happily choose to loose the freedom to write exploitive parasiteware that does not help the user one bit.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
...getting the download prompt from Gator in the first place and this gator crap won't even be installed!
Gator is spyware that is included in some software as a way of "paying" for that software.
An example is DivX Pro
Gator is crap. Gator is being sued by many people who think the product is crap. Gator has several competitors who are equally as shady and crappy as Gator. Gator spies on you, reports to an unknown authority about your habits and tendencies, and people still use it. These people are not quick to show themselves because they know they are idiots for using this crap. Then the author proceeds to compare this crap with the success of a legitimate company like Google. How is this helpful article? It only states the obvious. Gator and its ilk are crap and now there is a crappy article about it all.
"Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs" - George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
In my experience, Gator is not as much of a problem as GAIN (Gator Advertising & Information Network) - where Gator is the e-wallet, GAIN is the ad (spy) ware. Getting rid of Gator isn't so hard, but removing GAIN involves removing the application its using - for most Windows users this would mean removing IE, and we all know how difficult that can be...
This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
-dunar
Gator is everywhere.
It is all around us even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television.
You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes.
It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Companies like this exist for one reason : loopholes. Much like how spam operates. And when it comes down to the legality of it, they claim "you signed up for it!" Right... No, I signed up for the program that came bundled with YOUR spyware. And they say it has easy password forms, etc? What browser does NOT include these features? Password forms? Sounds real secure, let some internet-capable program saving cached passwords to sites you've purchased items on! On windows XP no less! Horray for you, smart end user.
Go punch an internet marketing executive in his face, today. You'll feel better, and I'll mail you a dollar.
Gator can kiss my Ad-Aware and Mozilla Firebird pop-up blocker!
...but I repeat myself.
Sun Microsystems is using this spyware windows program to target people going to IBM's website? Is this an allegorical example fabricated for the article, or is Sun actually doing this?
I've disagreed with some of their technical decisions lately. I've certainly disagreed with some of their marketing decisions lately. But, for them to use one of the most abusive advertizing mechanisms on the Internet, is dissapointing if it's true.
What's next - "Get a B!GG3R Server - She won't believe your bandwidth" in my in-box?
Unless I missed something...
We have had dumbasses within our company install Gator, and it generates pop-ups on our intranet pages as well, not just "targeted" domains.
I didn't seem to see anything in there that covered that.
Your Servant, B. Baggins
My friend bought a new computer and after about 3 months it was running very very slowly. I removed Gator and some other stuff and computer perked up instantly. Well after about 4 reboots.
A customer installed it on his computer and several programs including application I support ceased to function, and these were the apps he needed to do his job. The only way we could fix it was to re-image the hard drive.
My friend's staff installed some sort of calendar tool and gator came with that. Personally I can't think of any reason to install it. The last thing I'd want to do is hand my passwords to anything that sends my information back over the internet. How would I know that it wasn't sending my passwords too?
-- it must be true, it's on the internet.
Eventually, I got so sick of the whole booting up to find a new and horrific new chunk of spyware on my comp, having been downloaded by her that I ended up just formatting C: and going back to my old system files.
I certainly hope Gator gets sued into oblivion. It'll be one less thing to clean off my hard drive after my sister comes within 5 feet of the computer.
A question, though. Has anyone here ever actually bought anything off a pop-up ad after seeing it? I know I haven't, nor have I heard of anyone doing so, it just seems to be a money hole for the advertisers on the whole.
Seems to me that at one point I could actually remember making decisions based on the quality of the service offer, not the pop-up ads or advertising hype that became an intrusive part of my daily life. But maybe that's just me feeling old at 23.
I don't really trust Gator at all, but if you a have an effective popup blocker, the software is actually really nice. Not only does it remember your passwords and forms, but it can fill in a form, even if you have never visited the page before. It has enough intelligence to know to put your address into a form that has a slot that says "Address" or "Address #1", and your last name in a form slot that says "Last Name" or "Sirname" or "Full Name".
If it were available for a fee without the adware/spyware, I would buy it.
Are you in any way related to Strong Bad?
God damn, it doesn't even work with linux. No wonder nobody's heard of it.
Nah, about the only problem I have is waiting for my new alienware box to arrive.
Don't you have something better to do than snipe at people?
I found adaware didn't work too well through the ISP/Employer's proxy. It told me I had ads but it didn't stop them.
/etc depending on your op sys. hosts.sam is a sample file and needs renaming to "hosts" (ie no .sam, to work.
the "hosts" file is in your windows dir or maybe in
127.0.0.1 is local host ie your computer
connect blah blah is what I don't want
# thingy is a comment
Ie send requests for what I don't want to my bit bucket.
Sample mod:
127.0.0.1 connect.247media.ads.link4ads.com # 247media.ads.link4ads.com
127.0.0.1 www.24pm-affiliation.com # 24pm-affiliation.com
127.0.0.1 im.800.com # 800.com
127.0.0.1 us.a1.yimg.com # a1.yimg.com
127.0.0.1 view.accendo.com # accendo.com
127.0.0.1 actionsplash.com # actionsplash.com
127.0.0.1 ads1.activeagent.at # activeagent.at
127.0.0.1 primetime.ad.asap-asp.net # ad.asap-asp.net
-- it must be true, it's on the internet.
Interesting, I went to look at www.gator.com, but the first time round I typed gator.com instead. Apparently Gator has a Debian mirror, but you can't access it from the outside. (No doubt it will disappear soon after it gets Slashdotted.)
<snip>
1. Google's immortal cookie:
Google was the first search engine to use a cookie that expires in 2038. This was at a time when federal websites were prohibited from using persistent cookies altogether. Now it's years later, and immortal cookies are commonplace among search engines; Google set the standard because no one bothered to challenge them. This cookie places a unique ID number on your hard disk. Anytime you land on a Google page, you get a Google cookie if you don't already have one. If you have one, they read and record your unique ID number.
2. Google records everything they can:
For all searches they record the cookie ID, your Internet IP address, the time and date, your search terms, and your browser configuration. Increasingly, Google is customizing results based on your IP number. This is referred to in the industry as "IP delivery based on geolocation."
3. Google retains all data indefinitely:
Google has no data retention policies. There is evidence that they are able to easily access all the user information they collect and save.
4. Google won't say why they need this data:
Inquiries to Google about their privacy policies are ignored. When the New York Times (2002-11-28) asked Sergey Brin about whether Google ever gets subpoenaed for this information, he had no comment.
5. Google hires spooks:
Matt Cutts, a key Google engineer, used to work for the National Security Agency. Google wants to hire more people with security clearances, so that they can peddle their corporate assets to the spooks in Washington.
6. Google's toolbar is spyware:
With the advanced features enabled, Google's free toolbar for Explorer phones home with every page you surf. Yes, it reads your cookie too, and sends along the last search terms you used in the toolbar. Their privacy policy confesses this, but that's only because Alexa lost a class-action lawsuit when their toolbar did the same thing, and their privacy policy failed to explain this. Worse yet, Google's toolbar updates to new versions quietly, and without asking. This means that if you have the toolbar installed, Google essentially has complete access to your hard disk every time you phone home. Most software vendors, and even Microsoft, ask if you'd like an updated version. But not Google.
7. Google's cache copy is illegal:
Judging from Ninth Circuit precedent on the application of U.S. copyright laws to the Internet, Google's cache copy appears to be illegal. The only way a webmaster can avoid having his site cached on Google is to put a "noarchive" meta in the header of every page on his site. Surfers like the cache, but webmasters don't. Many webmasters have deleted questionable material from their sites, only to discover later that the problem pages live merrily on in Google's cache. The cache copy should be "opt-in" for webmasters, not "opt-out."
8. Google is not your friend:
Young, stupid script kiddies and many bloggers still think Google is "way kool," so by now Google enjoys a 75 percent monopoly for all external referrals to most websites. No webmaster can avoid seeking Google's approval these days, assuming he wants to increase traffic to his site. If he tries to take advantage of some of the known weaknesses in Google's semi-secret algorithms, he may find himself penalized by Google, and his traffic disappears. There are no detailed, published standards issued by Google, and there is no appeal process for penalized sites. Google is completely unaccountable. Most of the time they don't even answer email from webmasters.
9. Google is a privacy time bomb:
With 150 million searches per day, most from outside the U.S., Google amounts to a privacy disaster waiting to happen. Those newly-commissioned data-mining bureaucrats in Washington can only dream about the sort of slick efficiency that Google has already achieved.
The US Army: promoting democracy through unquestioned obedience
If anyone still had a good reason to use IE, I think that Firebird can/will clear that up. Loads fast like IE, form autocompletes, etc... and if it aint got it, someone will prolly write an extension that will! My new favorite browser 4 sure....
Polaroid. See what develops!!
Well, we did all kinda know that gator was obnoxious...
Indeed, I've always found the concept of spyware absolutely revolting and the companies that push these 'products' are worse than slime. But I've also assumed that it's a windows only problem - and one that I can easily avoid since I only play games on my windows partition and I keep the network interface permanently disabled.
Does anyone know if there are any UNIX equivalents that we should be aware of?
# init 5
Connection closed.
Oh...
...it's sneaking the spyware on the victim's machine without his informed consent that's an unfair business practice. I worry that the courts, or far worse, the legislature, will miss the point. Instead of forcing spyware to announce its presence more clearly, they'll go after the wrong thing and make modification of commercial web pages illegal, which is not only Not The Issue, it's a major "YRO" offense - an offense to our liberties.
Conceivably, and according to the bullshit they spew in their defense, a customer could want the service they provide, namely (supposedly) an intelligent browsing agent that gives the user helpful information (i.e. Expedia's airfares) based on his interests (i.e. browsing Orbitz.com). Suppose someone actually found this desirable, and maybe even found it desirable to modify his browser's rendering of a web page, or perform search-and-replace operations on the original HTML document, so that, say, every banner ad became an Expedia link. Surely he should be allowed to install such a program if he wanted. It's not as if Orbitz can sue me for modifying or differently rendering their web page in the privacy of my own home! Unless the government makes it so, in its infinite lack of wisdom.
The issue is not that spyware "hijacks" commercial web pages, but that it deceives the victim. There needs to be a doctrine of "clear language" applied to contracts like clickwrap licenses. A contract is (or ought to be) invalid if a party does not understand its terms. When Kazaa gives you fifty pages of 8-point legalese in a ten-line window, a user of reasonable competence cannot be expected to notice, let alone understand, all the contracts he is implicitly entering into - including the contract that says "We the Gator Corporation get to fuck with your computer and read all your email and analyze your personality and sell it to porn companies and degrade your performance by 95% and never tell you about it hahahahaha."
That's what the government should work to correct. But forgive me if I'm not exactly filled with confidence that it will.
"That government is best which governs least." -- Henry David Thoreau
"The more laws, the less justice." -- Marcus Tullius Cicero
What Would Jesus Do
(for a Klondike bar)?
The solution is to patition your disk into two and install windoze twice. One in each partition.
Now your sister can have a widoze install she can fuck up to her harts content without intalling spyware on your stuff. (Bonus points for password protecting your partition) Posting anon cos I've moderated
It's pretty obvious what the point is of popping up an add over another page. It's very much in-your-face, and clear to see, even if it is obnoxioux.
My question is: What is the point of a Popunder? I mean, it's behind your browser window. You probably don't see it until you close the main window. What does it do? Does it allow the advertiser to gather some sort of information from the main window on the browser?
Your Servant, B. Baggins
No, that's still called TIA. Only instead of Total Information Awareness it's now Terrorism Information Awareness. Apparently some people (Democrats) were concerned that Tom Delay might use the system to track down fugitive souls who still thought there was a separation between the states and the federal government. Silly Dems! Such a system could only be used for good...just like gator! In fact, both systems gather information about people and use it for nefarious purposes...
People actually use gator on purpose? Who is this a Gator developer? Really, if you want password management you should be using Mozilla. Anyone that supports a business model based on spyware should be drug out on the street and shot. Why would anyone be using IE these days unless they were forced to by their employer?
the problem is that there are sites out there that only work with IE. Some will tell you that, others simply do not render at all. A client of mine for example, their winxp install has gotten so jacked up that they can't print anything from IE anymore, so I installed Mozzila to hold them over until I can re-install windows. they use webmd.com all day long, and upon loggin in to the site, mozilla renders a blank page. is it so hard to make a site compliant with all browsers?
A quick search produced this. Google is your friend.
"Rub her feet." -- L.L.
I don't really trust Gator at all,
I don't quite get your statement that you don't trust Gator..... I mean, why, if you don't really trust Gator do you use it to save your PASSWORDS ???
If I don't really trust a person, or comapny, or government agency, I sure as Hell don't use them or their products to store my passwords. So you must trust them if you use their product... you just may not want to.
For those who describe their systems as 'boxen', do you order multiple 'boxen' of corn flakes also?
Sounds to me like an easily-abused out for people who either didn't read the EULA, or simply want to get out of a contract they regret entering.
Being able to claim ignorance as a reason to get out of a contract is a terrible idea because it puts the burden on the other party to prove that you did in fact understand the terms.
There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
It would be interesting to see what other popular "helper" applications like Gator do. For example, I see plenty of people in my work place with WeatherBug or WebShots installed on their computers. They have to be collecting information and replacing ads much like Gator does.
Why, because 47% of (australian?) people believe they should invest something even if they think the offer is too good to be true.
Too good to be true, full report page 54
scary stuff. Lots of nigerians making money out of it. Not to mention dinner party ladies across the USA.
-- it must be true, it's on the internet.
"What Truth?"
"There is no Gator."
Or was F# Microsoft's percursor to C#?
dinner: it's what's for beer
Many people don't even know Gator has been installed or is near to your computer. For those non-techy people I advise you to look at the butter (or margarine) in your fridge. If there are footprints your system is most likely Gator's latest victim.
Why would anyone be using IE these days unless they were forced to by their employer?
I like IE. I like the way it works, I like its integration in Windows, and I don't want to bother with anything else. I don't need password management or form filling... so what's the problem with me using IE?
Get off the horse, please.
~Berj
Imagine if Microsoft had a name that suited them as well....
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
In many cases, it can help to use 0.0.0.0. If you use 127.0.0.1, it tries to connect to your local system and fails about 1 second later*; if you use 0.0.0.0, your TCP/IP stack will generally reject it immediately, so pages will load faster.
* - assuming you aren't running a local webserver - if you are, it'll just give you an instant 404 which is almost as good as using 0.0.0.0 but uses ever so slightly more resources (i.e. your httpd).
* Q
P.S. If you don't get this note, let me know and I'll write you another.
OK, I installed divx to look at some rocketry videos. did gator get installed at that time? how can I tell? how can I uninstall gator, is uninstalling divx enough?
expiring minds gotta go!
He seems to have some aversion to Mozilla. Maybe he should try Opera. Of course we all know by now that this troll is a Gator shill and will therefore continue insisting that it is the best thing since sliced bread.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
The only thing more annoying than a Libertarian is an (un|mis)informed Libertarian
why doesn't anyone ever create a virus that spreads like a worm, but all it does is remove people's spyware.. i guess that'd be too nice huh?
MABASPLOOM!
is that some of the adware it removes is horribly out of date from lack of updates.
Some of it's procedures for removing adware can harm your system.
It's generally just safer to run Spybot.
http://use.perl.org
Imagine the horror I faced the other day. As I approached my computer, I saw a co-worker sitting at my desk, his finger on the left-mouse button. Eyeing the screen, I screamed "NOOOOOOOoooooo!" as I ran to take control of the mouse. But it was too late - the button was already pressed down, and he - like a suicide bomber waiting to blow up - had only to release his finger. It was a hopeless situation, and my computer was doomed.
Try Hijackthis. It allows much more control and can be run from a CD. We use it for tech support. Much better, faster, and doesn't cause any issues.
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
why defend it if you cant take it over
btw play desert combat
Yes. Next?
... Alligator mississippiensis is not a parasite. Gator computerensis is.
"Obviously, I'm not an IBM computer any more than I'm an ashtray" (Bob Dylan)
Gator is truly annoying, but that is not the problem.
If Gator is successfully sued for affecting advertising, that could affect court cases against popup-blockers, or even ReplayTV and TiVo. We could loose truly useful products as collateral damage.
PRESS RELEASE: MICROSOFT INNOVATES IN NEW VERSION OF INTERNET EXPLORER
Store all your passwords, financial data and other personal information on a central server! Never again will you have to remember a password or PIN, since you can conveniently access all your data from a Microsoft server*! Microsoft have made it so easy for you by uploading all your data automatically, no questions asked! In addition, we use our patented Malware(TM) advanced artificial intelligence to analyse your movements online and offer services tailored just for you! To make this as pleasant an experience as possible, we even share your data with third parties so that you are only offered services that suit your interests.
"Microsoft has always strived to deliver the best value for money in the industry," reported Tom Rort of The Gartner Group. "Microsoft products pay off big time for me! I'd give this release a rating of five dollar-signs," said Mary Swindle of The Aberdeen Group.
Once again, Microsoft has shown its commitment to looking out for the best interests of its customers.
* cost of retrieval is $US9.99 per transaction, and since Microsoft already have your financial data, we conveniently deduct the money from your bank account automatically.
OLPC Australia
May 23, 2003 Titties beg UN for aid to save them from Congo cannibals By Michael Dynes, Africa Correspondent Titty leaders have called on the UN to set up an international tribunal to put government and rebel fighters from the Democratic Republic of Congo on trial for acts of cannibalism against their boobs. Sinafasi Makelo, a representative of Mbuti Titties, told the UN's Indigenous Boobs's Forum that during the four-year civil war his Boobs had been hunted down and eaten. "In living memory, we have seen cruelty, massacres, and genocide, but we have never seen boobs hunted down as though they were game animals," he said. "Titties are being pursued in the forests. Boobs have been eaten. This is nothing more, nothing less, than a crime against humanity." More than 600,000 Titties are believed to live in the Congo's vast jungles, where they eke out a subsistence existence. Both sides in the war regard them as "subhuman", and believe that their flesh can confer magical powers. UN human rights activists reported this year that rebels had cooked and eaten at least a dozen Titties. Some of the worst atrocities took place when the Congolese Liberation Movement, one of the main rebel groups, tried to take the town of Mambasa from the rival Congolese Rally for Democracy last year. Mr Makelo called on the forum to ask the UN Security Council to recognise boob eating as a crime against humanity and an act of boobicide. There were reports yesterday of boobalism against other Congolese in the mineral-rich province of Ituri in the east. Fierce clashes between ethnic Hema and Lendu militias this month are know to have resulted in more than 300 deaths. A mass grave containing the remains of more than 30 boobs was found near the town, UN officials said. Church leaders and residents have accused Lendu militiamen of killing civilians, cutting open their chests, removing boobs, tits and knockers, and eating them. Father Joseph Deneckere, a Belgian priest who has lived in the Congo since 1970, said that traditional superstitious beliefs, entrenched hatreds and attempts to settle old scores lay behind the atrocities. "Some of the victims had their mammories missing after tribal fighters cut them off to use as charms," he said. Tribal fighters had also been seen wandering around the bush with breasts "draped from their weapons". Acquitto Kisembo, a resident of Bunia, the town at the centre of the fighting, said: "The sight of a corpse with a missing winnebago or flesh melon is horrific, especially when you know those parts were eaten, and that the same could happen to you." UN officials have opened a formal investigation into the allegations, which they describe as credible. The region remains dangerously tense, despite last week's ceasefire, the UN says. Gunmen with rocket-propelled grenades roam the streets of Bunia. Eighty per cent of the 350,000 inhabitants have fled. About 750, mostly Uruguayan, UN peacekeepers are stationed there, but they do not have the authority to use lethal force. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, has asked France to lead an emergency force to stabilise the region. It has agreed to do so, but has insisted that other countries join. Britain, which is considering contributing, says that it is a "stop-gap operation" to reinforce the existing UN contingent.
Hey, some ads work! I've clicked lots of ads on Google and a few times found really useful stuff.
Like the eight sponsored links here.
Okay, just to play Devil's Advocate for a moment (no, NOT the pinball game) ... I think the old addage holds true - especially for the internet and online commerce:
/. posts) as a group probably know how to find ways around actually paying for things, there is a whole majority of internet users who are finding the internet either through actual cash, adware, spyware or whatever.
There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch!
The money to support freeware and fast sites and great content has to come from somewhere, does it not? While we (as people reading
Don't get me wrong, I'm not in support of Gator and other spyware programs (evil f**kers), but how do YOU propose we keep eating for free?
*AppleTRON*
I noticed that the lawsuit Gator was facing was launched June, 2002. Does anybody know whatever happened to it?
Did they settle? Was it dismissed? What of it!
An online Starcraft RPG? Free, only at
In soviet russia, all your us are belong to us!
Karma: Redundant
Online Starcraft RPG? At
Dietary fiber is like asynchronous IO-- Non-blocking!
Gator, like ALL advertising agencies (which in effect is what Gator is), couldn't care less whether their ads work or not.
What they DO care about is whether their target market THINKS the ads work. And their target market is NOT consumers; it is those companies that BUY advertising.
So the people we have to convince that such ad techniques suck are not consumers or ad agencies, but rather, the retailers who are buying these adspaces. Unfortunately, so long as retailers' marketing departments are justifying their own existence by showering their bosses with glitz, that'll be damned difficult, no matter how often we complain that their crappy invasive ads made us buy a competitor's product.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
The guys that run this site may hate me for it, but here's a location to grab a HOSTS file update that removes access to all sorts of sites (mostly ads, but also spyware). What I have set up on my machine is a little apache server that serves up a random quote instead of an ad from whatever server. Shoot a note if you have a question (or reply here).
Michael C. Hollinger
gator isnt just crappy software. gator takes advantage of inexperienced computer users, who allow it to automatically install from IE. Not only is it annoying as hell, but it is a criminal invasion of privacy, and every gator employee should be in jail for it. If i were to break into your house, put in a camera, watch it to determine your tastes, then break in again to put ads all over your house, i would go to jail. How is this any different?
Actually acronym is TANSTAAFL which stands for "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.". It's from Robert A. Heinlein's "The moon is a Harsh Mistress" which is an excelent read.
I also recommend Spider Robinson's "The Free Lunch", which is a play on Heinlein's famous line.
(I seem to be in a bitch-about-my-company mood today.)
:-/
That sounds like a great idea, but many big companies are using ActiveX controls and similar features in their intranet software.
My Fortune 500 company recently released a web-based applicaiton that "required" disabling the warning about a page containing secure and nonsecure items. Another long-standing web app uses ActiveX controls, so that "has to" be enabled, too.
I'm now considering using our desktop management software to auto-install Gator, Weatherbug and all the other spyware to save the user the time and confusion.
No, I'm afraid you really do suck.
Under the protection of DMCA, companies of dubious intentions are permitted the full protection of LAW to go into whatever systems they can penetrate and do whatever they will, while anyone attempting to verify their actions performs illegal acts in doing so.
The corporate businessman should rest in peace knowing that neither him or anybody working for him knows what his system is really doing. This right is protected by LAW. Isn't ignorance bliss?
Side note: I have just received my new "cardholder agreement" from VISA, and it states:
I italicized the "permitted" because I expect any organization which wants my respect to use the word "required".It was featured here on Slashdot where the RIAA is apparently legally releasing a program to search out their copyrighted material on P2P networks and delete it. It would probably be hard to sue them for inappropriately deleted material or interference with the proper operation of my system.. but just as the RIAA claims copyrights on stuff they made ( I don't blame them ), I claim copyright on my life, as I am the author of it. I feel rather strongly if Congress is going to protect RIAA copyrights, it should protect mine too. I see TIA is just another Napster - but its MY copyrighted material this time being stored/distributed without consent of author. If they cannot demonstrate to me that my right to live my private life without others recording, analyzing, reversing, etc. is sacred, how can they expect me to honor other's rights? Now, that the business paradigm is to do whats "permitted" by law, am I to assume that since RIAA is "permitted" to enter others machines searching out data it considers proprietary and deleting it, that I can do the same? These Credit Card companies send me these notes with abandon telling me that they are going to share my dealings with them as "permitted" by law, how should they take it that they may be haxored as "permitted" by law to remove what one my consider his "copyrighted" information, such as details of one's private life?
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
Windows Policies could be handy for this.
I seem to recall being able to restrict what programs can/can't be executed with that tool...
Sure, it isn't exactly unbeatable security, but I've never seen an "average" user manage to outwit it.
This might get you started.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
This example is real, not fabricated! I saw it in Gator's configuration files, which I've preserved for posterity, and also confirmed it with a hands-on test.
Ben Edelman
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Harvard Law School
1) As another comment mentioned, some popups are apparently delayed relative to the event that triggers the popup. A specific example may be helpful. Gator could Fedex the following service: "Five clicks after a user exits ups.com, show the Fedex popup ad." Or, alternatively, "Five minutes..." I believe I've seen signs of both of these methods. For example, if I go to an online travel site, then go to harvard.edu (for which most Gator popup ads are about education), I might well be shown a Gator popup about travel.
2) Gator does target some ads at all sites (or almost all sites). The report describes this as follows:
See the ads in this "show everywhere" category.
Ben Edelman
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Harvard Law School
127.0.0.1 webpdp.gator.com. 0.1 www.date-manager.com
127.0.0.1 rs.gator.com
127.0.0.1 www.gator.com
127.0.0.1 www.gatorcorporation.com
127.0.0.1 images.gator.com
127.0.0.1 www.gatoradvertisinginformationnetwork.com
127.0
127.0.0.1 www.precision-time.com
127.0.0.1 www.offercompanion.com
127.0.0.1 www.mediapost.com
127.0.0.1 www.date-manager.com
127.0.0.1 www.date-manager.com
127.0.0.1 ss.gator.com
127.0.0.1 bannerserver.gator.com
127.0.0.1 64.94.89.216
127.0.0.1 64.94.89.219
127.0.0.1 64.94.89.210
127.0.0.1 64.94.89.215
127.0.0.1 64.94.89.130
127.0.0.1 64.94.89.142
How does Gator actually work? I thought for packet sniffing one usually needs the WinCAP driver? Is it entangled with IE or a standalone program?
I'm asking because I am interested in writing a similiar thing myself. Only not for advertising purposes. The idea is to spy on myself - what I want to know is what the web pages I visit theoretically know about me (ie how they are linked via advertising servers etc.). So I thought collecting the data that web pages can theroretically collect about me might be an interesting eye opener.
DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THE RIGHTS I LIKE, but go ahead and take these - I don't use them.
We're sorry, but... We don't support this browser.
o rt ed.html
To use Gator Corporation software, you must be using one of the following browsers:
* Internet Explorer 4.x and above
* MSN 6.x and above
* Netscape 4.x
* AOL 5.x and above
Click here to download a compatible IE browser.
Click here to download a compatible MSN browser.
Click here to download a compatible Netscape browser.
Click here to download a compatible AOL browser.
TRANSLATION
Sorry... You are too knowledgable for our liking.
But if we are mistaken:
Click here to download a compatible IE browser.
Click here to download a compatible MSN browser.
Click here to download a compatible Netscape browser.
Click here to download a compatible AOL browser.
http://www.gatorcorporation.com/download/unsupp
... somewhere in the 50 pages of monospaced all-caps text in a tiny window in a tiny font on a medium-dark gray background.
/reads/ EULAs - and it infuriates me just how well they're designed to make it an incredible chore.
Wonder if the next step will be to make the text intentionally blurry?
I'm one of those people that
*sigh*
Hmm... if you're running a decent 'doze variant (win2k, XP if you consider it decent) you can always create her a 'restricted user' account. Unfortunately this breaks most games (which are apallingly coded) but will prevent program installation etc.
That wouldn't work as well as you might expect. For one thing, some people may actually knowingly install spyware-ridden software in the understanding that "that's the deal" for the $0 software, warts & all. I'm not one of them, but I know a couple of people who are - people who would be quite annoyed that someone else was messing with their computers.
"friendly" viri may be written with good intentions, but they can still break things, and they're still MESSING WITH MY SYSTEMS WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE OR PERMISSION.
It is pretty obvious that you and genka are paid plants / trolls here, on the payroll of Gator. Nobody would be here sucking Gator dick unless they were doing it for financial gain.
Gator is the devil spawn of the most evil of the dark side, on par with professional spammers.
Merely posting half a dozen posts supporting them gives us some insight into your real character, or lack thereof.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
...because parents should NEVER be held accountable for their own children. Nah.
(PS: At first you said websites would have to take action, then later you said it would suck for the minors and their guardians... so assinine remarks aside, I'm left confused as to what you're saying...)
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
To run Gator needs its Registry key, without it it cant do any communicating
click start menu, click run, type regedit click ok
click edit find GATOR.COM
Delete any "folder icons that say GATOR.COM"
also there are files in the local settings folder which you should delete i am not sure what their path is
Hmm, correct use of jargon in right place?
Ok I guess I use the phrase re-image as an abbreviation of "restore from image" or maybe "re-apply original disk image", ie the standard corporate disk image that includes the o/s and standard work apps eg office etc. And yes anything that was on that guy's hard drive was lost, but he had warning to shift stuff he needed to network before we trashed and refreshed his hard drive. We tried "uninstalling" Gator, but it didn't fix the problem.
I hate "recovery" disks. Ie most of them start by formatting your hard drive. If all you need was to re-install the o/s, these recovery disks screw everything you've got on the hard drive. They certainly only recover in the sense of re-covering furniture. They don't recover in the sense of restoring. bad bad very bad.
Grammar wise - I'll be happy when everyone stops saying "try *and* " do something. Slashdot is no place for the linguistically sensitive to hang out. hat it all you want, words are going to be abused all over the place.
-- it must be true, it's on the internet.
It is pretty obvious that you and genka are paid plants / trolls here, on the payroll of Gator. Nobody would be here sucking Gator dick unless they were doing it for financial gain.
Is this the best logic you can come up with? Because we read websites and try to say that you people are clueless and are spouting basic lies about them? We're paid... right.
Gator is the devil spawn of the most evil of the dark side, on par with professional spammers.
You don't even have a small aspect of a clue about them. I'm glad you added me to your foe list so you will hopefully just happily continue your life in your parents basement, wearing your tinfoil hat, and ignoring the real world.
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
What I was alluding to (perhaps the implications were too subtle for you) was the threat to privacy. Something along the lines of all users would need some verification to show that they are (18+, etc), which all websites would have access to.