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Gator Examined

Posted by michael on from the looking-a-gift-gator-in-the-mouth dept.

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."

4 of 323 comments (clear)

  1. Gator vs. GAIN by dunar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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...

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    This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
    -dunar

  2. Gator by Choice, WTF? by asv108 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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?

    1. Re:Gator by Choice, WTF? by bheerssen · · Score: 4, Interesting

      1. Gator monitors your web surfing habits and uploads that information to their database. That information is then, presumably, sold. They claim they do not record personally identifiable information, but URLs often contain identity strings which can be cross-referenced.

      2. Gator throws annoying advertisements at you, even going to the point of showing you advertisements from certain companies when you view their competitors' websites (eg: seeing FedEx ads when you view the UPS website). They are currently in some hot water over this practice.

      It has yet to be determined that #2 is illegal, but it seems unethical at best. Given that Gator engages in at least one unethical action, how are we to believe they would not engage in other unethical or illegal actions, especially as regards to point #1 (above)?

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      (Score: -1, Stupid)
  3. Other Programs... by TheMayor · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.