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D-Squared Can Resume Pop-Ups, For Now
linuxwrangler writes "According to this SF Gate article, U.S. District Judge Andre Davis said there was insufficient evidence for him to grant a preliminary injunction preventing D-Squared from using Microsoft's messenger service to send pop-up ads to Windows users. D-Squared used the Windows messenger service to pop-up ads as often as every 10 minutes. The ads promoted its product -- software to stop 'these unwanted and illegal pop-up messages forever with the click of a button' - a practice the FTC called 'high-tech extortion.'"
that the blame lies with Microsoft?
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
OK. Let's all read this. Now this is either true or untrue. Let's take a look.
Option 1: the statement is true. That means that pop-ups are illegal, and hence the company is knowingly and willfuly violating the law. If this is the situation, they are in trouble.
Option 2: the statement is false. That means that pop-ups are NOT illegal. Hence the company is lying to extort money through practicing false advertising (along with probably being in violation of some of those new anti-spam laws).
Seems to me they have managed to write themselves into a corner. Now if we add to that some of the other charges that we might be able to make stick, they're in deeeeeeeeeeeeep trouble. Let's see what else we can come up with, shall we?
Of course, spamming the spammer (and their lawyer) with these pop-up messages might finally do it. Am I the only one who thinks that someone who's stupid enough to do this in the first place probably isn't using their own software?
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
What does firebird have to do windows messenger pop-ups, timothy?
"...today consumers have been conditioned to think of beer when they see a bullfrog..."
Let's all send a large box of manure to D-Squared headquarters, with a note inside saying "For only $29.95, you can stop these illegal and unwanted mailings forever!" Or better yet, disable the damn message service! Or even better still -- run Linux.
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
1. Start
2. Settings
3. Control Panel.
4. Administrative Tools.
5. Services.
6. Messenger
7. Change Startup Type to "Manual"
8. Stop.
9. Apply.
10. OK.
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
How sad... /sigh. Not surprised in the least about this, considering how pro-business the current US Powers That Be are lately.
Just how stupid could they be to somehow not be certain that D-Squared is doing something so blatently illegal? (well, either stupid or being influenced/controlled by someone else).
Oh well...heres hoping the US gets better before the whole thing goes to "hell in a handbasket" :P A major civil war would be a good thing now imo, before the US becomes even more draconian then it already is *rolls eyes*
I got hit on #5
"The snapin below, reference in this document has been restricted by policy. Contact your administrator for details. Services."
Any suggestions?
I don't know where you work (or go to school, you're probably at one or the other) so you'll have to take your best guess from there.
--MBCook - Anon because I don't need to be logged in for this
What, no Profit?
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Ok, let's analyze this on a technical level.
D-Squared is basically sending a series of packets to a specific port on the user's machine that is causing code to be ran, right?
What about the latest list of RPC virii? Don't they do exactly the same thing? Sure, the code that D-Squared is causing to be executed was written by MS and the code that the virii run are written by their respective authors - but the two are essentially the same.
How long before the courts allow virus authors to write antivirii and advertise them in the virus itself?
How many roads must a man walk down? 42.
D-Squared used the Windows messenger service to pop-up ads as often as every 10 minutes. The ads promoted its product -- software to stop 'these unwanted and illegal pop-up messages forever with the click of a button'
That's the funniest thing I've seen in a while.
Perhaps I don't get out enough.
Sometimes it amazes me what windows users will put up with to stay on the microsoft plantation. Messenger pop-ups ... Web popups ... Spyware ... Gator ... Browsers that you can't trust to accurately represent a URL ... Programs that crash at random (or even regular) intervals...
I'm sure there are lots of other everyday annoyances, since I don't have to deal with them anymore, they just don't come to mind.
I was speaking with a fellow at work today and he was complaing about having to reload his windows box yet again because of stability issues. Why do people continue to just suck it up and deal with this crap? I guess I just don't understand why even people who know about the alternatives and are completely capable of dealing with the change continue to be so willing to submit. My wife is one of those. I've told her flat out that google and her own wits are the only tech support she has anymore. Fortunately for her, she knows enough to be able to figure things out on her own and can navigate DOS better than most, but I just plain refuse to be an enabler with this annoying pile of warm cow patties that is windows.
This is an ex-parrot!
Maybe this is not such a bad idea? Although you can probably do it more peacefully than it was historically. The Philippines sorta did it when they got rid of Marcos back in 1986 I think, it was pretty bloodless revolution.
Of course you would need to know what you are fighting for, hopefully its to free yourselves from the oppression of people who try to exploit, extort you physically, mentally and virtually like these spammers, junk mailers, Bush, big corps that have no morals, and lawyers that support them.
The US basically had a fake election ending up with a fake president. Its time the US citizens start making themselves the country they want, especially when your democratic process breaks down like it did back in your 2000 elections.
Archie - CIO-for-hire
And I wouldn't be too surprised, under the current administration, if feds showed up at your house tomorrow. Assuming you're in the States.
If the problem can be eliminated through a Control Panel setting, charging for software to stop it sounds like consumer fraud to me.
Of course, as a Unix person, just about everything associated with MS Windows seems like that to me. :)
[Instructions for disabling windows Messenger SErvice]
Your instructions are correct, but I'd note that getting spam Messenger pop-ups is an indication that the recipient either doesn't have, or has incorectly configured, his firewall.
Since not having a firewall opens you to many other abuses than just Messenger popups, better advice to affected users might be to get the free Kerio Personal Firewall, or another firewall product.
Getting a firewall and not disabling the Messenger Service also allows the several other Windows services that use Messenger for reporting to the end-user to continue to make those reports.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
There are a couple of reasons:
* Familiarity. Just as most people aren't willing to learn a new (possibly significantly superior) control interface to their car, most people don't want to relearn an interface to their computer.
* Software availability. Lots of custom and vertical-market software and games are only available for Windows.
* Lock-in. Microsoft is actively making it unpleasant to switch from their software.
May we never see th
Since not having a firewall opens you to many other abuses than just Messenger popups, better advice to affected users might be to get the free Kerio Personal Firewall, or another firewall product.
Getting a firewall and not disabling the Messenger Service also allows the several other Windows services that use Messenger for reporting to the end-user to continue to make those reports.
I can't agree.
I've found the "personal firewall" to be one of the biggest disasters in recent memory. It has essentially no utility to almost any users.
It tends to get users worried about attacks that they could otherwise just ignore.
They may have bugs themselves or impact performance.
They cost money.
Requiring a firewall is *always* a sign that you are either using broken software or you have misconfigured your software. Messenger is decidedly broken. It has a completely broken authentication model.
In a normal system, any servers you have running should (a) support authentication and (b) not allow remote attacks inward. I never use firewalls for my small networks, because it's entirely unnecessary. If I manage to mask a security problem by slapping up a firewall, all that means is that I now have a security vulnerability that can be exploited if someone manages to get inside my network. I should secure my systems properly.
(Note that non-personal firewalls *do* have a legitimate use -- IT may not have good control over who is connecting what to their network, and furthermore, the additional time that a network-wide firewall may give when a worm outbreak comes along may be enough time to finish testing and deploying a patch).
I do not use firewalls on any of the systems I run. There is no reason to do so if the system is properly configured.
May we never see th
windows 2000 and xp include a firewall, that probably won't fuck up the network stack.
Need a Catering Connection
...simply go to /usr/ports, make search name=[app name], cd to the correct directory and type "make install", that's it. Downloads all required dependancies and compiles them too. I've never, in my year or so with the OS, had a problem installing a single piece of software this way. Plus it just feels less "cluttered" than a typical linux install, I think all you Gentoo freaks know what I'm talking about here. I like FreeBSD because it's a bit like rolling your own distro.
Does anyone have any idea what that little checkbox actually DOES? Fuck all, as far as I can tell.
Meine Schwester ist sehr, sehr reizvoll - Nietzsche
Under California Penal Code 502 it is illegal to access another's computer without permission.
Fight Spammers!
Damn, there goes my business plan...err wait a minute...I...um, have a patent on those 10 steps, and in order to use them you have to pay me a license fee...yea, that's the ticket!!
Indeed, not according to a lot of people who are not particularly computer literate, are not at all idealogical with respect to software and digital freedom, and who still, once exposed to alternatives to Microsoft, never go back despite Microsoft's best efforts at lockin and petty harrassment via IE specific web pages, broken MS-only java implimentations, and the like.
Microsoft may be the most usable system for you. This may reflect your personal preferences, or it may reflect an idealogical, financial, or personal stake you have in Windows vs. other alternatives. Or it may be a function of unfamiliarity with the alternatives and a mind closed to them. Quite possibly the latter, as describing the crash prone, virus prone, digital-rights-mangled heap of buggy code that is Windows as more usable than Apple OS X, a system which even most Windows, Linux and FreeBSD enthusiasts will happilly admit is the easiest for non-clueful users to learn, certainly flies in the face of objective facts.
Indeed, emperical evidence suggests Windows is no longer easier to use than Linux (just more familiar), indeed, its propensity for worm and virus infestation, its continueing instability make it quite the opposite for those non-techie computer users I've exposed its alternatives to. (Even windows 2k dies for no good reason from time to time...not the daily reboots we once knew, but monthly reboots remain, something my OS X and Linux boxes do not suffer from).
Now quit being the jerk you are and go help your wife with her computer problems.
He is, by weaning her away from the source of those problems (shoddy Microsoft software), and using tough love where it is appropriate.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
Requiring a firewall is *always* a sign that you are either using broken software or ...
Is there any non-broken operating system distribution? Windows is broken out of the box because it allows remote attacks inward. Linux distributions are also broken because SANE lacks a driver for Microtek Scanmaker 4850 scanners.
Do you really expect people to use an alternate OS or browser when half the XP problems you listed can be solved with a few minutes of effort and common sense, yet they don't do that?
The messanger service can be turned off with a few simple clicks. Most spyware and popups can be easily defeated with adaware or spybot. Most viruses can be reduced by common sense on what you open/click on and running an up to date virus scanner. Gator can be dealt with by not installing it.
I do helpdesk at a college, and it amazes me that people manage to install gator/aim/kazaa/blubster/ect with no problem, but require 15 minutes of walkthrough to install adaware or Norton's
As far as XP not being stable, I reboot my XP machine about 2 or 3 times a month, and usually only because I've installed new software. It doesn't crash because I'm smart about what I run and because I keep my protection (adaware and NAV) up to date.
I have blog like everyone else
Not according to my nieces and nefews (ages 2-14)
They're not in high school or college yet. Once they get into high school, they will begin to be pressured into playing video games that their peers are playing and that are available for Windows but not for Linux. Haven't the 6 to 8 year olds begun to ask for Reader Rabbit and the like?
or it may reflect an idealogical, financial, or personal stake you have in Windows vs. other alternatives.
The financial stake is a big one. Home users often don't want to have to buy all new peripherals that happen to have Linux drivers and all new proprietary applications that have been ported to work with Linux.
Disclaimer: I did not vote for Bush. I am not particularly fond of Bush as the President. That sais...
The US basically had a fake election ending up with a fake president. Its time the US citizens start making themselves the country they want, especially when your democratic process breaks down like it did back in your 2000 elections.
I call bullshit. Florida was so fscking close that statistically it could have gone either way. There were legal deadlines to meet, and SOMEBODY had to make a decision. SCOTUS made one. You may not like the decision -- I certainly didn't -- but it had to be made. I'd like to point out that in 90% of the world's countries, an election such as ours in 2000 would have led to years of armed conflict. In our case, it didn't. It seems to me that our democratic process didn't break down. if it did, we'd be up to our armpits in civil war.
The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
does not hold inside opaque contexts. I.e., you forgot Option 3. the statement is false, but it is not the case that the company knows this (so they are not "lying"). Then what? You prosecute them for doing something that is legal but that they thought was illegal?
There are yet more options...
"My God, this must be a truly remarkable corn chip, to be so widely and confidently touted."
As I read that URL, the problem is an odd character ( %00 ) in the login-name to opera.com
What problem should I expect in Mozilla? Firebird strips the (Unneeded) username off, and brings up the Opera.com homepage...