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Gator Forces Site To Remove 'Spyware' Label
lurker412 writes "CNet News is reporting that Gator has forced PC Pitstop to remove Web pages that call Gator's software 'spyware.' The correct term, according to Gator, is 'adware.' The article states: 'If we find anyone publicly calling us spyware, we correct it and take action if necessary,' said Scott Eagle, Gator's senior vice president of marketing. So be careful what you say in your comments..."
I, setzman, say that Gator is spyware. btw, First Post!!
C:\>
I publicly declare Gator Software IS SpyWare. Now... Come get me!
What if we call it snoopware? shitware? How about "fucks-up-your-computer-and- makes-it-run-slower-ware"?
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Gat0r is spyware. Ha ha! Can't get me! Fooled you! Neener neener neener! ... *sigh* it's so lonely in my parent's basement. *sniff*
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
Does it spy on me? Yes. Is it software? Yes. Therefore, Gator = Spyware.
QED.
Gator claims that their software isn't spyware because people are told about what they are installing. Yes, they are told that they are installing Gator but that's it. I'm pretty sure that even my grandmother would click NO to installing a "persistent, targeted advertising and consumer tracking system" onto her computer.
So while technically they are correct they should also realise that they are sleazebags who sleep with SCO. There. That should piss them off.
Oh, and P.S.: Gator is Spyware. Ha!
Sure there is. Just re-route Gator's servers to 127.0.0.1 in your HOSTS file.
If you put a pig in an evening gown and take it out for the evening, it's still a pig.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Charles Manson has asked that public stop refering to the acts of his folloers as a "Murder Spree". The correct term is "existence adjustment initiative"...
My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle...
Have they come out with a Linux version of Gator? I am sure the Linux community feels left out. This might be just the thing that would cause me to fdisk my computer and reinstall windoze.
LEPP
At work we have a constant battle against Gator on user PCs as it uses deceptive messages and popups on websites to convince users to install. I have found little software that does more to make a user's PC using experience unenjoyable than Gator. Bravo, you've gone above and beyond the call of duty; most spyware simply installs itself and tracks users movements, your software pretends to provide useful functionality on top of being deceptive and displaying your customers' ads instead of the ones that rightfully belong on the site. And on top of all this it makes an already nearly unbearably (wow, alot of -ys) unstable OS (Windows) even more unusable.
Thanks alot, Gator! You've made me look like a PC Repair genius as simply running Ad-Aware on most systems to remove the stinking heap of maggot infested goat dung your software is from a user's PC thereby speeding it up and making it crash less often!
Maxim: People cannot follow directions.
Increases in truth directly with the length of time spent explaining them
Also, I hope Gator reads this, so they know how much we hate them. But maybe I should thank them for generating extra business for me to remove their program from clients' computers.
Mozilla 1.4+ has a nifty popup blocker
--Im an oven mitt, not an engineer! (SLArbys Radio Commercial)
Assholeware - companies that produce spyware and then insist that noone calls it as such.
FLR
Here's what we do know...
While we don't know the identity of GAIN-Supported Software users, the GAIN AdServer and TGC collect and use the following kinds of anonymous information:
so you track who we are (list item 6, and 7 different list items of data about us, including what kind of computer we have, where we surf, what software we use to go there and configuration information on our computers.) YOU ARE SPYING ON US.
spy
n. pl. spies (spz)
for those who are illiteratei among us, please check the third definition.
Thus I declare that you (Gator) are manufactures and purveyors of spyware onto the masses.
i have never once thought of gator as spyware....i have always just refered to it as a well marketed virus
Until there's some kind of legal definition of "spyware" versus "adware", I certainly would classify it as spyware. "Non-personally identifiable" my ass... if someone snuck into my house and found out all that information about me, I wouldn't call it "advertising". Stealing a company's non-personally identifiable trade secrets is spying. Stealing non-personally identifiable documents from a classified government facility is spying.
Still, given the persistent, near un-uninstallable nature of it, think "spyware" isn't a good term... "Malware" or "Evilware" is probably more appropriate.
-3Suns
~~~~
The Revolution will be Slashdotted
"Malware", people. Covers a lotta crap.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
I don't know what everyone is complaining about. According to there homepage you get FREE software (often valued at up to $30!!!). Here are the apps you get:
.0006566547866787 pico seconds late for meetings!
Weatherscope provides easy access to local temperature and extended weather forecasts. Taking a trip? Weatherscope gives you the current and future conditions!
Cool, no more endless searching of weather.com!
Precision Time - Make sure your computer clock always has the correct time. Synchronize your computer clock with one of the world's most precise timekeeping devices - the U.S. Atomic Clock.
Awesome! I hate being
Date Manager - Never miss another important date or reminder. Date Manager shows today's date in your system tray and allows you to quickly pull up a two-month calendar and set reminders.
WOW I can't believe this is free!!!!
Gator eWallet - The world's most popular digital wallet. The Gator eWallet automatically remembers login IDs/passwords and fills in online forms with just one click. No more lost passwords, and no more typing information such as address, email, credit card numbers, etc!
This is great, I'm sure your data is completely secure since this software was written by such an innovative company!
Tell Gator, instead of whining about it here Gator Contact Form I already sent them the url of the /. discussion..
I think people misunderstood what the parent poster was saying. Its not that he has Gator's Software installed on his machine, its just that Internet Explorer KEEPS ASKING HIM TO INSTALL IT OVER AND OVER AND OVER again until he says yes, every time he visits a page (not site, but page!) that would make a reference call to Gator's software. The popup isnt an advertisement, it is a system popup asking him to install the software.
Note that this is no less intrusive than pages that have Macromedia Flash on them, and repetitively being asked to install Macromedia Flash to view the page properly instead of somehow turning off the IE software install "pop-ups".
Gator is NOT spyware - to help the slashdot crowd fully understand this important point that Gator is NOT spyware I have created a helpful reminder by way of the Gator is NOT spyware URL which constantly reminds visitors to the Gator website via a reminder message that Gator is NOT spyware.
This is the Gator is NOT spyware URL...
Q.E.D. [Latin: quod erat demonstrandum] which was to be proved.
If it smells like shit, looks like shit, and tastes like shit then it's probably Gator, I mean shit.
QED is the abbreviation of the Latin expression "quod erat demonstrandum," which in English means "what has been proven" or "it is demonstrated."
It is typically used to signify the end of a mathematical (or other) proof. Unfortunately, I have never read Cryptonomicron (sp?), so I can't understand why the above poster would have a problem with another person using it. Maybe he thinks that people otherwise wouldn't have known the term unless they read it in the book?
Personally, one of my professors used it at the end of a proof in lecture one day and another kid asked what it meant. *shrug*
Gator is using classic bullying tactics: Keep bullying so people think you can win a fight, and they'll avoid standing up to you.
If the definition of "spyware" is defined by the courts through analysis of popular usage, then it seems that all of the sites out there calling Gator "spyware" would be extending definition of the term to include Gator, even though Gator is not according to their own definition, "spyware".
If Enron calls itself an honest company, and thousands of news articles and blogs declare it a dishonest company, who is right? Is Enron an honest company merely because it says it is?
Is Gator an honest Internet citizen because it declares itself to be, as it stands in plain view red-handed?
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Feedback: Tell us how we're doing or give us an idea on how to make it better.
Partners: You'd like to propose a business relationship or learn more about our business.
Affiliate Program: You have a question about the affiliate program. To learn more click here.
And my personal favorite...
Press: You'd like to schedule an interview with The Gator Corporation executives.
Slashdot Editors? Hello?
It means: Quite Easily Done, or Q.E.D.
And it appeared in places like Hitchhicker's Guide To The Galaxy way before it appeared in Cryptonomicon.
(ie: HHGG's proof of the non-existance of God: God said, "I refuse to prove I exist, for proof denies faith, and without faith, I'm nothing." "Ah," said man, "the Babel fish is a dead give-away, and proves you exist, so by your words, you don't. Q.E.D." "Oh, I haven't thought of that," said God, and vanishes in a poof of logic.) (or something to that effect).
"If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy
It means, Quite Easily Done, or Q.E.D.
Oh, please ...
Haven't you read the old Ninja Turtles novelizations (not the original graphic novels, but some cheesy books someone wrote)? As Donatello said, it obviously means "Quite Excellently Done."
*grabs a book and runs giggling from the Latin majors and logic students*
I guess I'll have to tell Porkette things aren't going to work out...
Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
Gator is NOT winning. 23,000 sites with the words gator and spyware. They might as well try to halt peer to peer music trading. By calling themselves, "adware" they will forever malign the name "adware". Gator is scum and anyone who has anything to do with them shall be judged as scum.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Gator is spyware.
Come and get me.
-bZj
.sig
The correct term, according to Gator, is 'adware.'
And hillbillies prefer to be called 'sons of the soil'. But it ain't gonna happen.
I think that from now on we should refer to all spyware as Gator-ware.
look at their front page and notice this image of the gator logo spying on you!
In an effort to improve its corporate reputation, adware company Gator has launched a legal offensive to divorce its name from the hated term "spyware"--and so far its strategy is paying off.
Ok - the basis for my opinion:
Gator's lawsuit is based on libel law. For a statement to be libelous, generally, it must meet the following requirements:
Now, defenses to libel include:
- Truth; and
- Opinion.
Allegedly libelous statements are not actionable if they are mere statements of opinion. Statements that cause damage (no matter how much damage!) are not actionable if the statement is true. Now here's the sleazy part: Gator is taking it upon itself to provide a definition of "spyware," claiming its software does not meet that definition, and suing for libel. Implicit in the the claim is that the statement that Gator software is "spyware" is the claim that the label "spyware" is false because it does not meet the definition of the term that Gator provided.Did you catch that? Your statement is false because it does not match the definition of the term that Gator likes. Never mind the possibility that the term was coined by others and may have a meaning that matches what the software actually does. Gator does not like the way a negative term is being applied to its software so it will try to change the definition of the term.
This tactic is often used in advertising. Perfect example is when telephone companies claim their rates are lower than rates of a competitor and in the fine print you find out that their definition of a competitor's rate is the rate that competitor charges at the crack of noon on the highest call volume day of the year to a point exactly opposite you on the planet with the CEO of the company personally connecting the call for you. I know my example exaggerates (maybe not that much!) but what the hell, it's an example.
Whether or not the law warrants this type of suit, I personally think it is a sleazy business tactic to try to improve your company's image by using lawsuits to silence critics. There are laws (anti-SLAPP laws - SLAPP stands for Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) that are designed to let judges throw out libel suits designed to silence critics.
Last time I checked, the commonly accepted definition of "spyware" fit the Gator program perfectly. I understand it to be software that collects information about you (with or without your permission) in the background. If Gator doesn't like the way it's products are labeled or perceived, I think it should advertise or maybe change its business model, but definitely not sue to silence critics expressing their opinions.
Laws affecting technology will always be bad until enough techies become lawyers.
So for the next couple of weeks, a new Slashdot sig.
This is not my sandwich.
I tried to go to your link. I got the below error page, looks like the administrator on my home network has that blocked ;) Squid rules..
ERROR
The requested URL could not be retrieved
While trying to retrieve the URL: http://www.gator.com/
The following error was encountered:
* Access Denied.
This site has been BANNED from loading
Access control configuration prevents your request from being allowed at this time. Please contact your service provider if you feel this is incorrect.
Your cache administrator is root.
Generated Thu, 23 Oct 2003 01:39:14 GMT by squid.xxxxxx.org (Squid/2.4.STABLE6)
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
Gator is a menace to the internet, and I'm talking about measureable economic damage. One of my employer's clients (I'm in the network security business) found that 18% of their internet bandwidth was being sucked up by Gator. We sold them a solution, of course.
Blocking Gator's spyware is big business. Corporate customers are eager for solutions, and lots of companies are selling them. The term "spyware" is not going to go away as long as Gator's evil behaviour continues to create a big market for spyware removal and blocking software.
Gator can threaten to sue people of course, but since they are clearly the ones engaged in criminal behaviour, not the anti-spyware firms, I really don't believe Gator can come out on top in the long term.
So there.
Doug Moen.
I have written a truly remarkable program which this sig is too small to contain.
Billions of self-respecting maggots are offended by your comment, sir, and demand an apology!
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
> Anyway, I thought Gator's primary purpose was pushing ads?
You thought wrong. It's not adware. Even calling it spyware is somewhat
on the generous side, as that implies that what it does is passive, some
kind of watching or monitoring -- but while it does hide as spyware does
also, it's also very disruptive; as far as I'm concerned, it's malware.
As near as I can determine, calling it adware is an outright lie, because as
far as I can see it does not advertise *anything*, including its presence.
A few weeks ago I found Gator on the Win98 PC that my family uses upstairs,
and removed it. We didn't know it was there, and certainly we didn't see any
ads. (My family would have noticed if it were popping up any ads, because
the browser they use does not pop up any extra windows on its own; if you
want to open something in a new window, you have to right-click and choose
"Open in New Window"; otherwise, everything stays in one window. If Gator
were causing the computer to deviate from this pattern, we would have known
much sooner that something was running in the background creating the
problems, and it would have been much easier to find and remove it.)
The reason ultimately that I went poking around and managed to find Gator
and remove it was because of the system instability it was causing. I was
looking for any possible cause and was this close [holds up fingers virtually
touching one another] to swapping out the hard drive. I knew it wasn't bad
RAM only because the system is multiboot, and the other OS was fine. So I
figured major filesystem problems. But scandisk turned up nothing. Finally
I found Gator, removed it, and *bang*, overnight, the system was stable.
(Well, stable as Win98 goes[1].) It can now run for hours and hours without
rebooting, the whole day most days, from when my Dad gets up at 6am to when
my mom goes to bed at 2am, if my youngest sister doesn't fire up the IM
software[2]; before I removed Gator, two hours was pushing it.
So, the primary purpose of Gator, clearly, is to screw up your system.
They can make all kinds of bogus claims about other things it might do in
theory, but in practice the main thing it does is screw up your system.
It's malware, simple as that.
[1] Yeah, I know one day is not impressive uptime outside the context of
Windows 98. I actually use Mandrake myself; it's the rest of my family
that uses Windows. Hence, I have my own computer and they all share.
But the family PC is usable for my family if it can run all day; it
wasn't terribly usable when it was crashing every hour -- which was
my point about Gator; it makes the system unusable.
[2] In which case, it does have to be rebooted after that, but I've got
a registry merge in autoexec.bat to prevent the IM stuff from starting
up at system start time, so it only runs when she actually uses it,
which really isn't all that often. I forget whether the one she uses
is AIM or YIM, but whichever one it is, I recommend against it.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
Google Toolbar has a fantastic popup blocker... and you get to keep using IE!
Dear Gator,
Gator is Spyware, you fuckers. Spyware. Spyware. Spyware.
Please send me a nastygram. My career is stalled, and I could really use the publicity.
Love,
Wil Wheaton
Linux weenie who doesn't even use your crappy SPYware.
PS- It's spyware.
Hey, Gator! It's Spyware! S-P-Y-W-A-R-E! I did not choose to install it on my machine, but it's still here! Why is that? Because it's SPYWARE!
Like Mr. Wheaton above, I would like a cease and decist order sent to me. However, since I have no previous career in entertainment, I need the publicity to get mine started. I'm a poor, non-RIAA aligned musician trying to crack an industry dominated by old men who think kids want to hear Justin Timberflake and some slut from Wexford, PA all day.
Gator is Spyware. It sucks. Thankfully, I use Opera, which allows me to kill popup ads. But still, you're collecting my data (maybe you're collecting the fact that I'm taking your SPYWARE to task, nes pas? and selling it to companies so you can make an advertising buck. Sounds like SPYWARE to me...
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
when you realize that you just made fun of Wil Wheaton for claiming to be Wil Wheaton.
Who'd win a cage fight between bonzi buddy and gator?
Was it on /. or a newsgroup that somebody told Christiansen "you obviously know nothing about Perl"?
Finally ... a moment where my .sig is on topic! ;-)
That post (it was a few years ago) was one of the funniest things I ever read on Slashdot, and it has been entrenched in my .sig ever since...
Do you even know anything about perl? -- AC Replying to Tom Christiansen post.
I am for one, completely offended that all of you bash Gator 24/7. Gator was designed to put targeted ads to the user, meaning consumers get exactly what they want.
From the continued use of Gator, it has developed an accurate profile, and the ads I receive are of premium interest to me. I have made many successful online purchases from the reliable, well-established companies that advertise through GAIN.
To all those reading this message, I would like you to know that the programmers of Gator worked long, hard hours to design this software, and you should be very thankful that the corporation allows you do download it free of charge, which is worth clearly more than the Suggested Retail Price of US $30.
All in all GAIN is a very useful form of targeted advertising, and represents a huge leap in positive, productive media and computer technology in the 20th-21st Century.
Sincerely as OJ Simpon's Court Statements,
Some shitbag PR/Actor/Marketing Major that was paid a lot to say all this crap... err... I mean...
Joe Average User
Partial Credit: The Engineer's Best friend
"Well, the bridge didn't fall all the way down!"
Every user of the Internet.