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A Gator By Any Other Name
MFS! writes "CNet reports that Gator, everyone's favorite ad software, is changing its name to Claria. Gator's CEO says "We feel that the Claria Corporation name will allow us to better communicate the expanding breadth of offerings that we provide to consumers and advertisers." He fails to mention what "Claria" is supposed to mean or how it accomplishes this goal, but it seems that the name change may be no more than an attempt to distance the company from a moniker which has become involved in allegations of spyware."
How long will it be before they start suing people for calling Claria spyware? Its inevitable. Thats what the software does. Noone wants to be advertised at, especially without their knowledge on their own computer.
We put up with commercials in TV because a TV is relatively cheap. But when most users pay 2000+$ for their computer, and then have programs installed without their knowledge with other programs, then of course the terms will be created.
Claria == Spyware (now im the first to say it)
hrrm.
We feel that the Claria Corporation name will allow us to better communicate the expanding breadth of offerings that we provide to consumers and advertisers."
Translation: "We feel that changing your name will allow us to continue our evil actions under a different alias... and continue to profit."
Oh, thats really going to help these assholes.
Spyware is spyware, by any other name.
It likes to bite. You go down to the watering hole and it jumps up and grabs you by the neck and forces you to install it.
Claria is a social disease. You get it by going to websites that specialize in doing dirty things. Those who get it are usually unaware that they have it, and they are no doubt not using virus protection.
Is the new address of "online behaviral marketing" specialists.
gator.com is not working.
Well, Claria, go to hell, it's still the same crap.
how long until
The CEO said "We feel that the Claria Corporation name will allow us to better communicate the expanding breadth of offerings that we provide to consumers and advertisers"...
Instead of communicate he ment to say obfuscate. Its an understandable mistake...
Crap by and another name still sticks to the bottom of your shoe and smells bad...
DJMD - The fourth man - Planetary
Excellent trick, tried by Monsanto when they were grilled for producing genetically hacked foods, favoured by nuclear power stations when they have bad leaks, and above all by tin-pot dictators who think that calling their ruined country by a new name will attract a new generation of foreign investors.
Crap is crap by any name. This kind of maneouver just confirms that they feel they have something to hide.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
Claria is evil spyware.
If ever there was something that made me want to hire a lawyer it would be these gator scum... I don't know whether it was them or another spyware - but it disabled mozilla on my machine so I had to use IE until I ran a spyware sweep and then mozilla worked fine.
Forcing people to use buggy software. What they are doing is illegal hacking, they should be prosecuted.
It's a word.
moniker
I hope slashdot doesn't get forced to remove this now...
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
Makes me think of how Philip Morris changed its name to Altria (Sounds like they are now altruistic) or how Palladium was changed to Next Generations Secure Computing Platform Whatever. (Sounds like they are trying to make your computer safe)
They don't change the business, they just try to run from their (well deserved) reputation.
Strangely enough, searching for Gator brings up www.Gator.com, which takes you to www.Claria.com, but search for Claira brings up websites about Claria headsets, I wonder how they're going to get round this.
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
He fails to mention what "Claria" is supposed to mean or how it accomplishes this goal
It just illustrates why you don't name your company after a single product line. If that product turns out to have bad side effects (like cancer or flipping SUV's over) then you need to change the company name so prospective investors and customers don't think it's the only thing you do.
Did you know Bridgestone is the parent company of Firestone? Of course you didn't. And while you would probably think twice about buying a Firestone tire for your SUV (even though it was only one model of tire involved out of Firestone's entire lineup), you wouldn't think twice about putting on a Bridgestone tire.
Likewise, if Gator wanted to come out with a second product tomorrow, they couldn't - because who would install Gator Calculator or whatever? Nobody. But who would install Claria Calculator? The same millions of users who installed Gator.
What's your damage, Heather?
by any other name would smell as...oh, wait. This is Gator.
(n/t)
So they change the Name of the company and the website, but forgot to rename Gator(R) eWallet ! Yeah, cause I'd trust these folks with any of my financial info.
She used to read my mail without my consent.
Maybe "Chlamydia" would be a more appropriate name..
Hey man, I just installed Chlamydia!
Can you get rid of it?
I dunno, I think I gotta go see an expert.
Claria sounds like a blobule type of animal; I highly reccomend either a clear yellow blobule, or brown-to-light brown blobule with either a smooth or coarse texture.
Candy-Coated Knowledge
Top hits for "Claria is" on Google...
Claria is looking for talented web developer with strong design and Java development and skills.
Claria is a top quality commercial headset at a very reasonable price.
Claria is supposed to be adorable but..ehm...please, be kind...give her back her bunny doll?
Claria is a trademark of Claria.
Claria is generally considered one of the best universities in the world
Claria is a brown eyed, brown haired, rather voluptuous 27 year old woman of average height.
Claria is the leading strategic hiring partner for technology start-ups
claria (TM) is a registered trademark of Claria Headsets
A little planning goes a long way...
Don't forget, though, that there really wasn't anything wrong with the Firestone tyres. Ford stupidly told customers to run at absurdly low pressures to improve the stability of a badly-designed vehicle, and since the tyres were being used out of spec, they failed. Everyone knows blowouts are caused by running on soft tyres (or they should).
I run Firestone tyres on one of my Citroens, because they are the closest to the proper Michelin X tyres (which aren't made in 145SR15 any more). Never had a problem with them.
WindowsAE (Advertisement Edition). The basic functionality of phoning home is already implemented in the OS, and the ads will be a "feature" that you can charge
".Sig Stealer" was here
This one works... !
so does this... !
No redirect here!
same for this!
From any of those links above you should be able to browse through the old site.
moniker = (Slightly obscure) British English expression meaning "name"
That Clarica hasn't complained about Gator's new name being so similar to theirs.
If I were in the life insurance business you'd better believe I wouldn't want my name associated with something so malicious as spyware.
"Max, come over here. French-Canadian bean soup. I want to pay. Let them leave me alone." - Dutch Schultz
And all this from a company which used to produce decent form autocompletion software?
How sad. DotCOM goes bust -> companies collapse -> remaining resort to bad measures.
And asked them nicely to investigate any legal avenues they might have in relation to challenging gator. They may or may not react, but I think we should support them if they decide to take action. Certainly this story should be covered, to give them something to distinguish themselves from a potential PR disaster.... so Slashdot articles could send traffic their way. But only if they have the balls to stand up to these spyware bastards... or at least speak out against them.
I feel it is the least we can do to help some small company which will no doubt have to change it's name because of all this.
It's sad really. Much is ill in the world.
Claria-- The spyware formerly known as Gator.
Oh Drat. Now I am going to get a cease and dissist letter.....
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Another casualty is performance: these spyware programs arent just tracking your usage and pushing advertising, they are consuming finite computer resources in the form of processing power, networking bandwidth, and memory space.
I have seen firsthand what all of these programs do to a corporate environment, and it is just as bad (if not worse) than a virus. The difference between a virus and spyware is that the former can kill or corrupt your computer, while the latter weakens and sufficates it.
Since these computers have no protection against the spyware, this causes many effects- all of which bleed resources from the company.
1) degraded computer performance: the worker now has to work slower
2) increased network bandwidth consumtion: this degrades network performance for the entire company, as well as again consuming an ever-growning share of a finite resource (WAN bandwidth)
3) increased computer support: the time and expense involved in having somebody diagnose and fix the problem effecting the client computer(s)
Once you start trying impliment a solution, a company is forced to spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of man-hours planning and implimenting a solution to stop all the spyware.
I would encourage companies to start taking legal action against these spyware companies. What they are doing is every bit as bad and immoral as releasing computer viruses into the wild.
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
Now I might be fooled into thinking that Claria wasn't spyware, but I thought that the name GAIN was still attached to it pretty closely. It makes me wonder if they will be rebranding this company too...
The public can't be that stupid, can they?
They install a program on your machine that sends data over your connection about your behavior, right?. So, why don't we give them what they're are asking for? Why don't develop a program to send fake data to the server that gator is connecting to? If the data is credible (=random but correct), they have a mountain of crap data about users ... and voila, their business plan is useless
"Hmmm, this Palladium of ours seems to be garnering a lot of bad press lately. I know, we'll call it NGSCB so no one will know what it really does!!" - Microsoft stooge.
"Man, this Total Information Awareness idea of ours seems to be upsetting those pesky privacy advocates. I know, we'll call it Terrorism Information Awareness, then if the privacy advocates cry foul we can call them unpatriotic and lock them up at Guantanamo." - John Poindexter.
Face it people, when a company/organisation changes the name of something to obfuscate it's true intentions, you know it's a bad thing.
I say play them at their own game. Just call spyware "Clariaware" from now on.
Quizo69
Visceral Psyche Films
Looks like Spyware, tastes like Spyware. MUST be spyware.
Gator is crap, so who cares? I wonder what kind of morons use such software. Bonzi Buddy rulez!
I feel like a morron trying to say Clair...
first into my head was clara.net, a reputable UK (now European) ISP which is probably also now noticing an unfortunate similarity... bummer eh :/ Still I'm not the sort of /. nut who's gonna suggest "similar names shouldn't be allowed", 'cos we all know that's just a slippery slope..
I wonder how strong an association is really formed in peoples' minds by these sorts of name "similarities".. probably little, unless the word is already an adjective in the language. Hmmm, deep! :p
There's probably loads and loads of companies with similar names to claria if you start looking (which i'm not gonna do eh).
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
Instead of renaming themselves in a pathetic attempt to remove their undeniable links with spyware, why not just stop writing spyware, and instead write a piece of software that's actually useful for something.
That way, people will download their software based on it's own merit, rather than having the new Claria spyware drive-by installed on them in the same fashion that the Gator spyware currently is.
Changing your name to disassociate yourself from your past activities is something career criminals like to do. In this case it is nothing short of a total admission of guilt.
Organic free-range music... yum!
If a mere name change could work wonders, perhaps Micro$oft could change their name to
FreeOS, or say, $30os, to somehow indicate that they have decided to relent on their high prices, and offer a decently-priced operating system. For instance, the "FreeOS" version comes with XP Professional, with no telephone support.
The possibilities are endless!
...Changing to AirTran, will probably work for it in the short term, most people wont remember the change in the long term, and there fore the ruse will work unless they change their practices. And yes the public is that stupid.
Remember guys, Gator is not spyware. It's adware. Please refrain from using the former term.
Still smells as swee.... errrrmmmm no it doesn't.. it smells like something alright thoug...
A problem cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created it.
I thought Gator had changed their name to Slimeware.com. It certainly looks like a similar sort of outfit. Hmm..
Never email donotemail@WeAreSpammers.com
Does this mean that we can call Gator "spyware" again, as long as we're sure to refer to Claria as "adware" instead? Adware, spyware, it's all the same thing. The only difference between it and viruses is that viruses don't hide behind the fine print of a EULA. That, and they don't annoy me quite as bad
--
www.nitemarecafe.com
The FBI simply renamed it to DCS1000. "We had a concern that it wasn't a good name for the system".
-------
Warning: Slashdot may contain traces of nuts.
...another DNS entry to route to 127.0.0.1
I'm sorry if I haven't offended anyone
Funny...to me it sounds like an allergy medicine. Claria...clears your head and reports back to us what you've been sniffing.
Microsoft CEO Bill Gates announces that the much anticipated 2007 Windows Desktop Release, tentativly called "longhorn" will be renamed "linux".
I thought of Phillip Morris also when I read this.
The sad thing is that most people are probably going to fall for this sort of marketing tactic. Most of these companies only need to trick the people who aren't paying attention.
I know many non-technical people who were actually starting to recognize Gator since it's the most common, and now they have to start over again.
Claria is a social disease With a better suited name, too. Cue a thousand 'Do you have clarmydia?' anti-spyware websites springing up.
What software is on the host computer:
Information about software installed on the host computer may be accessed and stored on our servers. We may identify the existence or non-existence of certain software titles on the computer (including GAIN-Supported Software), as well as their version numbers, so that we can determine whether to take steps to offer new software that does not currently reside on the computer, to offer upgrades to the software that does currently reside on the computer, or, following the release of new versions of GAIN-Supported Software, to automatically upgrade, at GAIN Publishing's discretion, GAIN-Supported Software that has previously been downloaded onto the computer. We may also utilize this information to determine whether the users' of the computer are in compliance with The GAIN Publishing Privacy Statement and End User License Agreement.
Does everything include nothing?
When a brand name has become a negative influence in the decision process that make consumers use (or not) a product, a standart industry strategy is to change the brand name.
It makes all sense for them to do it. On the other hand it also shows that the Gator brand name has aquired negative associations in people's minds (or so the Gator, now Claria, corporation believes) - this is a victory of sorts for those that tried to inform people about the evils of Gator products.
To maintain the pressure on this company, a possible strategy to follow is to inform people that Claria = Gator, thus maintaining the negative association in people's minds.
PS: I suspect they paid some expensive marketing consultant that told them that "Claria" brings sub-conscious mental associations with Clarity.
In other news, Gator Corporation has changed its name to Claria Corporation. In still other, seemingly unrelated news, SPYWARE has changed its name to GATOR CORPORATION.
(no)apologies to snl, lung cancer and altria...
When in doubt, parenthesize. At the very least it will let some poor schmuck bounce on the % key in vi. (Larry Wall)
"You don't get any free content in return."
What about the "Gator E-Wallet"? Technically it is a service/product.
GL
Dear Gator^H^H^H^H^HClaria,
Gator^H^H^H^H^HClaria 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 ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Chris Devers
Linux/OSX weenie who doesn't even use your crappy SPYware.
PS- It's spyware.
DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL
For an exploration of things, names, what they're called and what their names are called, go ask Alice
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Is there a Linux port available?
All that beautiful gator promotional art gone to waste. *sigh*
Satan has changed his name to Cherry Creampuff.
I worked for a company called System Art for a while, they wrote CRM software. They decided the name was too vague(!) and lacked impact so spent weeks coming up with a new one - they even got the contractors involved (I ducked out) in brain storming sessions and role playing scenarios - one guy had to pretend to be Nelson Mandela visiting the company!
In the end, after all the sh1t, they opted for one of the two names that the direcors had originally come up with (surprise, surprise).
What was this new miracle of marketing identity that would lead them into the next century? "Centrix"... like, duh! It didn't change the fact that the company was in trouble and the software design was crap!
Go permanent? In your dreams and my worst nightmares.
has anybody checked out the management team profile? it actually looks quite impressive, in terms of the academic level. compared to the guy from emarketersamerica, these people actually seem to constitute a strong team.
but i wonder how, being educated where they were, did they come to such whacked ideas like running a shitware company.
say, so what do those famous schools teach you? how to make profit with whatever it takes?
http://www.cluetrain.com
I swear by MacOS X. Although I use to swear *at* MacOS 9...
If they wanted better market perception, should've just changed their name to Philip Morris.
sic transit gloria mundi
Claria is thec ation
Loathing
Asinine
Renamed
Intrusion
Appli
Get a free ipod.
What the hell? That sounds like a little girl's name. Maybe they should call it something like Red Queen?
"You're all going to die down here..."
Now I have to change my .sig again.
This is not my sandwich.
Damn hidden spyware, even the name is an insult.
Since Gator Inc. is putting real money into changing their name, lets make sure that the term "Claria" is equated with exactly what they are peddling. Annoying crapmongering software that spys on what you are doing, sends interrupting ads, and slows your system/connection.
When you think "Claria," don't just think "Spyware," think "Turd-Ware"
would still smell as sweet. Gator by any other name would still smell as BAD!! SPYWARE, SPYWARE, SPYWARE!!! Or if you don't like that, what about loserware, slows-down-your-computerware, fuck-offware, virusware, a-piece-of-crapware, and all the other -wares.
While "claria" has several latin meanings involving shining brightly or being clear or bright, whitaker's Words also cites it as a "beetle infesting beehives."
Niiiiice.
Karma: T-rexcellent.
Thanks to all the negative publicity, Claria, formerly known as GATOR, has just changed it's name to Oceania. But don't worry, their sound business model and high quality software remains the same.
Double plus good!
Currently, there are a couple vendors that provide "remote, automated guru service". Symantec and a few antivirus vendors look for malware using a series of tests devised and constantly updated by experts, and then applied to many, many computers.
Ad-Aware searches for spyware and adware.
Windows Update searches for updates to Microsoft software.
There are websites that will scan your computer for basic remote security holes.
The problem is that there is a growing number of components that do automated guru tasks, because there isn't enough gurus, enough time, or enough money to take a guru out to each house or even work each machine remotely. People don't need to know about each field, as a result, but *do* need to be aware that such software is necessary in each field and run it/buy it/whatnot. What's needed is some (probably commercial and relatively inexpensive) comprehensive "Complete Computer Maintenance Service". It'd do automated virus checking (might do a partnership with Symantec to use their engine), look for spyware/adware, provide updates from *all* software vendors, warn about security issues with your current setup, look for common misconfigurations, warn about discontinued software that you're still using, provide simple flowchart based troubleshooting and possibly fix-it wizards (Outlook doesn't work), etc. The big benefit is that currently almost all home machines are unadministered, and this could be done quite cheaply, because it scales. Hell, OEMs could bundle service like this.
The important thing is that each machine must *never* require actual individual attention from a human being, or else costs shoot up (though perhaps optional commercial phone support could provided as a separate service). The base service should be on the order of $10/month at most. It'd keep IT costs down and keep small businesses and home systems much more maintained than they are now.
My suggestions here were somewhat Windows-centric, mostly because most current Linux folks *need* someone else administering their box, but that will probably change as well.
This is also something that "Joe Sixpack" publications like PC World could easily review ("service foo caught more problems on our ten test machines that service bar did").
Finally, a corporate version of this service could also be sold to even places that can afford in-house IT staff (one that pops up its reports on a centralized control machine in an IT center). That makes a *good* first pass for IT personnel (so they don't blow time on ordinary tasks), helps keep up on problems with specific software that no single IT guy can possibly keep up on, and makes the service money.
May we never see th
From the Claria Website:
Tell us how we're doing or give us an idea on how to make it better.
at http://www.claria.com/contact/ or just click here
GIVE'EM HELL!!! (I already did) =^)
LE+
I don't have any adware/spyware/virus problems with MacOS X or Linux with Mozilla or Safari.
The simple reason is, that they don't allow things like this to work by Default.
And this is why this sort of software should be called RAPEware.
Last I checked, violating someone without his/her consent, against his will, and giving him no ability to stop it when he asks to is called RAPE in the English language.
I see no reason why the term cannot apply to one's computer.
-
Claria is SPYWARE
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them. Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)
Sounds like the name of an STD.
http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmares
Damn, we need a couple of expensive headsets where I work, but Claria (the headset company, not the spyware company) doesn't have the ability to do online ordering. I'd have happily recommended purchasing from Claria.
May we never see th
I did exactly the same, and in less than 20 minutes I got a response that wasn't automated. I didn't realize corpoglomerates did that any more.
Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
In other news, Saddam Hussein has legally changed his name to Charlie Brown. George Bush and children around the world rejoice and they laugh together at the funny antics and antidotes of Iraq's leader and his funny dog Uday.
Why is it that Claria only supports Windows?!! Am I, a FreeBSD user not worthy of being advertised to? No Gator, no popups in Mozilla .. Well .. atleast I still have my spam email..
"a moniker which has become involved in allegations of spyware."
Shouldn't that be "a moniker which has become involved in alligator spyware"?
Fscking spyware crap...
Interestingly enough though, firestone still managed to ai market share on rival Goodyear. Talk about bad manageent, goodyear managed to turn vry public bad news about a compititor into a loss for them. I'm not much a manager, but I think I could do better.
"online behavioral marketing" .. and thats not considered spyware? they are still bastards :P
Come to think of it, so did the name Gator.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Get real! I would rather have 100 or more spyware programs on my PC than to be raped one single time. Yes, spyware is annoying, but to compare it to a physical assault is outrageous.
Here's a list of Claria's domains where downloads are available:
o n-time.com
gator.com
claria.com
searchscout.com
precisi
weatherscope.com
date-manager.com
If you're running a web caching system, block on those domains and your users are protected from unnecessary help desk calls.
Anyone benefiting from their spyware will now be able to anser:
Customer: "How the hell do you know I like that?"
Low-Life Advertiser: "Clariavoinacy!"
Maybe, just maybe, learning to speak clearly and fully and precisely would go a lot further toward communicating the breadth of their offerings to the customer than does replacing one meaningless noise with another.
Maybe it was Friday afternoon, everybody was too full of unicorn to come up with anything useful, but they hadn't issued any memos lately to justify their existence, so: Claria!
Now, everybody should put a link on the 'links' page (or any other page of their choise), naming the link "Spyware" and pointing it to: http://www.claria.com/
:-)
Like: <a href="http://www.claria.com/">Spyware</a>
And guess what google will do? Yes, correct
"Always install software from Claria Corporation?"
Zodiac Survey
I guess cholera was taken...hmm lets try a name that sounds like a new alergy perscription instead.
- DenialX
You're about due a regime change over there, aren't you?
This is a growing trend in corporate business. During industrial times companies were named after their primary product or, occasionally, the name of the founder.
General Motors, International Business Machines, etc. etc.
Now that corporations are increasingly involved in the amorphous "business" of owning each other and outsourcing, they'd rather people NOT know who they are. So brands are given memorable descriptive names, but the names of the financial entities behind them are designed to slide off the memory. Altria, Worldcom, etc.
Frankly I find this all very scary. The current nightmare future of corporations replacing governments doesn't have any Gibson-like overtness to it. People won't swear allegiance to Coca-Cola or fight for the Microsoft army. Rather the entities with all the power in the world will gradually become more and more vague and more and more distant from the popular conciousness. And not as the result of some sinsiter conspiracy, but rather the natural result of market trends.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
1. Create a virus
2. Claim that it is 'online behavioral marketing' software
3. Profit
Rinse, Wash, Change the name, Repeat
I wonder what Filemaker Inc. thinks of this.
-ben
myselfmusic
The US military is changing the name of its enormous, 7.5 ton BL-82 "Daisy Cutter" bomb, as were used in Afghanistan, to the new name of "Happy Moon and Stars Chrysanthemum" to invoke mental images of playful Chinese fireworks instead of ungodly flaming death and destruction.
You seem to have assigned a meaning to 'joystick port' that few of the rest of us use. Are you sure you're not a little more involved with that mere machine than you should be?
A Good Intro to NetBS
----
---- "Excuse me. Where's the children's gun section?"
BTW, I'm patenting that business process model, so ya'll better get your checkbooks warmed up!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
U.S. Military tests high-tech orbital beam weapon on unsuspecting drunken campers!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
so why shouldn't it work fot the gator?
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
You are probably referring to the fact that a userland application can't mess with the OS installation. However, I could easily write an application that mimics Gator eWallet that would run in GNOME and Mozilla/Galeon/Epiphany.
The only reason these things doesn't exist (or at least very rare) for Linux is that there aren't enough clueless users yet. If they switch from Windows you can be sure that the spyware will follow.
Linux does make it a lot easier to identify spyware though. Fewer places to look, and contrary to windows you can always trace what is happening.
If their intentions are to profit??
McDonalds cuts the amazon trees to profit. BP and shell pollute the environment to profit. Companies know the cure to AIDS but keep it secret to profit and the scouts sell the cocaine, to profit. If you manage to be rich, we congratulate you, no matter how you managed it, and this is what we do in corporate america. May teh best man win.
Got keep up with the times. Wouldn't want to miss my chance at being hit with a lawsuit because they thought i wasn't talking about them.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
As many on this board are aware, PC Pitstop launched a major awareness campaign about Gator and its activities. Gator in turn sued us, and we finally settled and the terms of this agreement are confidential. However, we'd like to post our opinion about Gator's recent name change.
We believe that the only solution to this problem is one of awareness. When a user sees a Gator Active X, it must be eventually engrained into their heads to click NO. Gator is indeed clever, because by changing names, it makes an awareness campaign more difficult and also expensive. By analyzing the recent moves, it seems that Claria is comprised of three organizations:
GAIN Publishing - This organization contains the software packages eWallet, Precision Time, Date Manager, and Weatherscope, and also the GAIN network. GAIN Publishing is also responsible for selling the advertising on the GAIN Network. Note: It seems that recently Gator/Claria has changed the name on their Active X certificates from Gator Inc to GAIN Publishing.
Search Scout - Search Scout is a product of their relationship with Overture. This organization is responsible for managing the Overture relationship, and also determining in which situations Search Scout will over ride the user's browsing experience. Note: We have recently discovered that Search Scout pops up not only when Google or other web searches but on specific sites. For example, I was listening to Gateway's earnings conference call, and Search Scout popped a full page window, with the title "Looking to purchase a computer?".
Feedback Research - It seems that this is a new organization. It seems that the purpose of this organization is to run targetted surveys to users of the GAIN network. We recently have found (and have screen shots) of a survey that Feedback Research is running to users of the Google Toolbar.
Claria is a smart company. Their name change is good evidence that they are trying to keep ahead of the rising anti Gator sentiment on the internet. So we just need to be smarter. Here are a few ideas to hopefully spur more awareness:
1. Companies UNITE. One thing that I have learned from slash dot is that the impact on company's productivity and expenses is more measurable than to individual consumers.
2. Know the beast - I hate to say this. But I want to encourage everyone to install Gator on your PC to know what it is doing. It is clear that Gator/Claria is constantly changing its tactics to its environment, and the more eyes watching their behaviour the better. Of course, uninstall the software before it gets to be too aggravating.
3. Tell everyone you know - No one is protected against Gator. It can show up on anyone's computer at any time. So everyone needs to know about Gator.
4. Tell your company not to advertise with Gator and/or Overture.
How the hell do they live with themselves? I bet they sleep like fucking babies at night.
A computer without a Microsoft Operating System is like a dog without bricks tied to its head
I can now say Fuck Claria w/o subconscious fear for my member!
Must-not-watch TV!
Cancer changes its name to Gator.
Although the baseline IQ of populations doesn't alter much (and that of computer users frequently dips as home units become more widespread...) existing IT-using populations do learn eventually.
Some even learn to look out for behaviour rather than software names... I predict Claria won't be the last rebadging, anyway...
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Gates M'dna wgah'nagl fhtagn.
Otherwise evil companies would have now way to escape their own reputations!
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Huh? What if Bridgestone tires had been failing? What would Bridgestone, Inc. have done then? And yes, I did know that Firestone was made by Bridgestone before the story came out. In case I forgot, each newspaper article reminded me.
And by the way, there are plenty of examples of companies renaming themselves after their most (or only) successful product.
Did you know Bridgestone is the parent company of Firestone? Of course you didn't.
Of course we didn't. Because nobody on slashdot knows as much as you.
Arrogant prick...
What kind of response did you get?
Not everything is analogous to cars. Car analogies rarely work.
Gator = Spyware and Claria = Gator
Therefore, Claria = Spyware.
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
This means victory. Of course they don't want it to look that way but here's the deal. Gator's been getting ton's a bad publicity. They need people to want to advertise with them, but no one wants bad publicity. They can sue the public into giving good publicity to them, that would be impossible. So the only thing they can do is pretend that they have come out with a better way of making people believe they are good, gaining good customers along the way, while in the background losing the gator stigma. The only way to get rid of them for good is to keep giving them a bad name. Instead of Gator is bad now we need to push Claria is bad. They're in a public arena and when the public looks to them as bad they can't sell ads for the public. When they can't sell ads they go out of business. So round one is done and we've won. Now onto round two.
/. Heroics - 99.999%
We could also change the name of "dogshit", but it will still stink just as bad.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
[ydnar@akiba ydnar]$ whois clariasucks.com
.com and .net domains can now be registered
.COM, .NET, .EDU domains and
[whois.crsnic.net]
Whois Server Version 1.3
Domain names in the
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
Domain Name: CLARIASUCKS.COM
Registrar: REGISTER.COM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.register.com
Referral URL: http://www.register.com
Name Server: DNS9.REGISTER.COM
Name Server: DNS10.REGISTER.COM
Status: ACTIVE
Updated Date: 03-sep-2003
Creation Date: 03-sep-2003
Expiration Date: 03-sep-2004
>>> Last update of whois database: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 06:24:03 EST <<<
NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the
registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is
currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration
date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring
registrar. Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to
view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.
TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois
database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and
automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or
modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry
Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for
information purposes only, and to assist persons in obtaining information
about or related to a domain name registration record. VeriSign does not
guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a Whois query, you agree to abide
by the following terms of use: You agree that you may use this Data only
for lawful purposes and that under no circumstances will you use this Data
to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
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By submitting this query, yo
As long as we say that Gator, and not Claria, is spyware, we won't be sued?
Please then, allow me to be one of the first to say.. Claria is spyware.
The truth about Scientology, Xenu, and you: Operation Clambake
I was wondering where I had heard the name "Claria" before. Then something jogged my memory.
Claria is the trademarked name of a line of headsets produced by HEADSETS 4U HEADSETS 4U - About us. I had been involved in a purchase decision for headsets for use Emergency Room, Intensive Care Unit, and switchboard and help desk settings in a mid-sized hospital; the Claria headsets were found to be suitable.
I've sent a note to their CEO about the possible trademark infraction. The name confusion between their product and ex-Gator is obviously not to their benefit.
Really, if you don't see the fnords, they won't eat you....
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Is there a decongestant version that they offer? They can call it Claria-D... which could be Claria without the congestion of spyware.
...rhymes with malaria. Yup, it's pestilence.
Now it just sounds like "mankex".
Apple Computer should sue because Claria sounds too much like Claris and would reflect negatively
Apple Records should sue because anything that reflects negatively on Apple Computer may reflect negatively on them.
Farmers should sue because anything that reflects negatively on apples is bad for them.
Microsoft is in there somewhere too, as groundwater contamination from Windows-loaded drives in discarded PCs is known to cause worms in apples, at least on Halloween.
Zoo-keepers should sue because Gator carries a more negative feeling than those lovable reptiles deserve.
Maybe no one should sue, just feed the Gator execs to the gators instead? Season to taste adding lawyers.
That's how "undertakers" became "funeral directors." That's how "trailers" became "manufactured housing." That's how "We're putting you on hold for the next decade" became "Your call is important to us."
--Dave Barry
What's good about this name is that when the business plan fails they can start selling allergy medicine!
4) Increased helpdesk workload as the bookkeeper keeps calling the helpdesk with vague descriptions about "my computer says everything I do is being watched" == direct financial damages
5) Increased power bill due to all those stolen transistor state-changes. == direct financial damages
6) Increased equipment failures as all those infested Laptop HDDs spin up and down every 30 seconds == direct financial damages
7) Increased Labour costs researching how to really remove gator and all it's components == direct financial damages
If someone starts a class action that I'm in the class of (Canadian, technician for a company that had an infestation, but my own computer (*NIX) was never infested) I'll join.
smells like a reptile, and acts like a reptile, its a reptile. Giving it a pretty name doesn't change the fact its a slimy creature you should never turn your back on.
No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?
The reason they changed the name is the CEO went to a cocktail party, and someone asked him what he does:
"Well - I'm the CEO of Gator Corpora^@#"*gets punched in face*
BTW, you think people would pay money to see Alan Ralsky, Darl McBride and this guy get the crap beat out of them? Or at least make arrangements to have the crap kicked out of them?
In layman's terms: "'Gator' has to much brand recognition. We feel we can better serve our advertisers under a name no consumer has heard of."
You certainly should have been modded up. The response I got was...
Jeffrey
Thank you for this notofication
Regards
Neil
Nothing terribly exciting, but at least they made an effort, and obviously got the message.
Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
...but it's still a turd. :)
An asshole by any other name, would still stink.
Our proxy blocks gator.com, but not (yet) claria.com. All the images on claria.com are hosted on images.gator.com, so the home page shows up as just a bunch of broken images, a few of which have ALT tags. Funny.
...does it run Linux?
I thought gator was a pain in the ass spy ware program slowing down my friends' computers. But now it's this claria. It's not spyware, it's behavior marketting. Didn't you guys see those people with happy faces on their website? They're happy because their behavior is being marketted. yay
Heh. Go troll somewhere else, child. Democratic Underground, perhaps. They'll like your loaded phrases and insinuations over there.
And if you don't get the wordplay between Insightful and Inciteful, I'm certainly not going to bother explaining it.
Hokey statistics and ancient misconceptions are no match for a good thought in your head, kid!
Yeah, at least they replied. I don't know anything about Claria. Perhaps they are small enough to not have an automated reply for emails or maybe they are just shooting for the customer service. Anyway, it was nice that they replied.
Not everything is analogous to cars. Car analogies rarely work.
Claria is spyware.
Come and get me.
-bZj
.sig
Sounds like Philip Morris, which changed it's name to Altria "to better clarify its identity as the owner of both food and tobacco companies that manage some of the world's most successful brands.
http://www.altria.com/
-Luke
an attempt to distance the company from a moniker which has become involved in allegations of spyware.
I deny the allegations, I deny the alligator, and I deny the Gator too!
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
Ha. Remember Philip Morris changed its name to Altria? Now Gator is Claria. Nice.
It's hard to use this nickname with Gator around. Everybody thinks they're the first to make a pop-up joke around me.
"Derp de derp."
We feel that the Claria Corporation name will allow us to better communicate the expanding breadth of offerings that we provide to consumers and advertisers.
The reason for this change is simple: Gator is too well known as adware.
Though claria reminds me of malaria or chlamydia, people will likely be less suspicious of it, as the name isn't said with a spit after it.
Whatever you want to do is fine by me, and you can call it anything you want as long as you don't infringe on one of my own trademarks, but if you install your crap on my pc without my express consent or knowledge, you're guilty of a serious crime, period.
I don't think gator actually installs that way, but some spyware installers have used remote exploits in IE to do it. If I run a windows box, I only do so because it's needed for applications. It's not appropriate for people to install things on my computer without my consent, regardless of whether they are able to do so or not.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
It's this attitude that is the problem really. People are not stupid for ending up with these spyware things on their machines... it takes a real knowledge of what's going on on the web, and an innate distrust of things to spot these things easily.
With the amount of things that say "Your internet connection has been tested and is slow, click here to fix" and things like that, to someone who doesn't know any better seem like a reasonable thing to click on.
The Gator popups seem somewhat reasonable if you aren't initially thinking that all things that popup without your asking are bad.
You may well say "Well people should learn more about these things before they get on the internet"... well, maybe so, but then also the internet is all pervasive now, and whether you like it or not you sort of almost need to get on it these days... and its the people who are just curious, or need to get online to read the e-mails from their family overseas etc who are most vunerable... in fact I have an Aunt who is around 70 or so, and just got Broadband internet installed... and I'm heading over to her place on the weekend (She's interstate), and I hate to think what's been installed on her machine after just 4 weeks of having it installed.
And trying to say "Well, install Firebird then, that stops all sorts of things", yeah, and it also makes playing back streaming video and almost anything needing a plugin a nightmare... I'm yet to have it playback streaming Windows Media files as theres no obvious way to have a plugin installed for it... and if I can't work it out, there's no way she would.
Stop thinking everyone thinks like a geek or is dumb... there's many different ways of thinking, and they aren't all IT-centric
Why not change their name to X, ACME, or WeDontSpy, or SlashDotSux? They will still get Slashdotted, gain a little press, and make AdAware and the other companies to add one more line of code. Why not setup accross the street from their HQ with trebuches and fling the corpses of spammers through the front window? No? OK how about actual cans of SPAM?
Surprised that 'Claris' hasn't been mentioned yet.
Don't Apple own this trademark? If so, aren't they going to sue Claria's asses into oblivion?
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
The story is about Gator, not about your ignorance of the English language, nor your inability to use a dictionary.
Insightful!
h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-slash-dot-dot-org
Take whatever opportunities present to spread the word. Make web pages with 'Gator' on them that say "Claria" is their new name. Better yet, why not lobby Google to substitute the word "Claria" every time 'Gator' is searched for...
- In a knowledge based industry your main asset will always be people -
to say it. Claria is SPYWARE!
Here's a government link:
o security/volume_10/C3/C3_index.htm
t _review.php
i on-awareness/
http://www.darpa.mil/body/tia/tia_report_page.htm
And here's some others (remove the Slashdot spaces):
http://www.epic.org/privacy/profiling/tia/
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/researchpub/publihouse/inf
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/TIA/20030523_tia_repor
http://havenworks.com/military/tia-total-informat
Quizo69
Visceral Psyche Films
I bet a shiny new nickel (it's a Canadian one, currently up to a balmy 3.80 US cents) that the former Gator Co. is going to get their pants sued off by Clarica for trademark infringement.
quality lockpicking book for sale at http://cafeshops.com/hackingtexts
Gator ? Hasn't it become Claria ?
BTW, it is not my ignorance of the English language but of your slang, there's a big difference, here, ArschLoch.
Please then, allow me to be one of the first to say.. Claria is spyware.
/. Say it to them. They would love to hear from you.
a ckresearch.com
Don't say it to
If you want you can tell them again and again.
Or if you don't want to use those forms, you can simply email, call, or fax them:
info@claria.com
jobs@claria.com
support@feedb
Tel: 650-232-0300
Fax: 650-232-0400
you mentioned teaming up with symantec and all that. the problem with your package (although it does sound good) is just that -- this software's vendor chooses symantec for you. if a new antivirus software company wants to start working, they'll have an awfully tough time, since everyone is using your mega-solution, and symantec already provides the antivirus protection there. in comparison, many of the other features of your program would cause similar effects in other "fields" of software and maintainance. what i just described is the rise of a monopoly. we all complain about microsoft, people comment that they have programs like IE built-in, so users don't download other browsers. same thing goes for anything else in windows. what you're suggesting is another microsoft.. what you can build, however, is a program that does your clicking for you, like you suggested. i.e. something that checks which programs you have installed, and updates them for you, all at once.
-= ailaG =-
Wrong! Rape only refers to vialation of sexual context. Since computers are not capable of reproducing computers, it cannot possibly be a rape.
The three orders of magnitude that exist between robbing a store and robbing a couple of billion from wherever the US treasury stores it doens't mean that the former is less of a 'robbery' than the latter. The term applies to both regardless of severity.
;-)
Yes, getting raped yourself is less fun than having your computer raped, but it's still rape.
And as for that 'rape applies only to sex' comment, we do 'base-rape' when we play tribes, don't we? (or is it something else you've been doing with the mortar each time the rest of us were flattening enemy installations?
-
It's clar, ya shouldn't install any of their shyte.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
i just lock everyone out of access on their PCs with win2k at the office.
sure, the accounting broads get mad "why can't i install flash on my computer? what do you mean i'm locked out, do you think we're children? well, no, it's not for work"
after putting them in their place, if it's somewhere that isn't crap, i'll install it for them, and let them know it's for their own protection.
admins who let users (stupid idiots) install apps on their own are asking for trouble.
I was removing gator/gain from my parents' computer and noticed ads for johnkerry.com on it.
A leader of the free world he will never be. Not even Bush/Ashcroft would buy that cr*p.