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WhenU.com Enjoined From Competing Pop-Ups
Frisky070802 writes "The NY Times reports that a preliminary injunction has been issued against WhenU.com, a company that distributes software that performs certain tasks for users but also intercepts their website visits so that, for instance, a visitor to Expedia would see a pop-up ad for Orbitz. Now if only we could get rid of all the rest of the pop-up ads."
If I'm clear about what my software does, and this site was, then I ought to be free to distribute it and block popups or anything else I want. If this behavior is illegal, then popup blocking software ought to be illegal, too.
The internet seems to become more worthless every day, as more and more of it is hijacked by spammers and other commercialization.
How can we take it back? If we can't, how can we replace it with something more resistant to these electronic malignancies?
I want instant communication with friends and colleagues all over the planet, but I don't want UCE. I want instant access to the world's knowledge on all topics, from crucial news to movie trivia, but I want it without viruses, interstitial ads, popups, spyware, and all that other crap.
By using Linux with some other specialized software, I have erected a defensive perimeter around my internet existence, so the tidal wave of garbage largely passes me by. But the walls need maintenance, and there always seems to be some new leak that needs plugging.
It's regrettable that we need to take such drastic measures, but what really worries me is that the need is increasing with time. Can you imagine the situation where 99% of your email is spam? Is there an alternative to giving up email entirely at that point?
I doubt WhenU held a gun to people's head forcing them to install the WhenU client.
All kidding aside though and to be serious, what right does a court have to block how software the user installed interacts with said user? If the court rules against WhenU in this case, what stops a multitude of lawsuits from being filed because Company X doesn't like how Company Y's software interacts on Average Joe's home computer? I swear, the US is getting WAAY too litigation happy, especially on such tech issues.
Now while I can certainly understand the affected companies concerns (I work for one of the plaintifs), I simply think the courts have no moral right, let alone legal grounds, to step into this sort of situation.
To say it plainly, if it's MY computer, I'll install what I choose, and if I'm not happy, I know exactly where the uninstall is located. I think the consumer should be able to decide for themselves what software to install and how it interacts with the rest of my system - I don't need mommy & daddy to decide for me......
Argh... I could go on for a while here.......
You can hide the Google toolbar so it doesn't take up any real estate. And if it is resource (memory, CPU) usage you're worried about, well XUL and other bits of Netscape add a lot more resource usage than the Google toolbar does to IE.
Note: I have nothing against Mozilla, it is a fine browser, but the 'nothng extra' statement regarding the google toolbar was kind of silly.
Popup ads, as I understand them, are a tax for not knowing how to disable them. If you don't want to learn - you look at ads. If you don't want to look at ads - you learn how to disable them.
Popups facilitate freedom of choice:)
I don't remember when I saw popup ads last time...
I use Google all the time anyway. Being able to just enter a search query into the toolbar instead of having to surf to "www.google.com" every time more than makes up for the few pixels the Google toobar uses. I've got a 1280x1024 resulution too, so it really doesn't take up that much space.
1) WhenU does not install because a user asked it to. It is spyware.
2) slightly off topic, but their popups and spyware sends are not blocked by the google toolbar. I saw a computer that had google toolbar, with 8 popups blocked (yuppie!) but outside popups were not. The owner had like software popups outside of IE popping up every 10 seconds so much he installed googles toolbar just because of that. Imagine how much business google gets because of the spyware business, as googletoolbar is the most well known popup blocker (even if it doesn't remove those popups the user came to get removed) ?
Cover your eyes and click this link!
Well Firebird is the one for me. Absolutely fantastic browser - looks great, fast, no popups, can use Mozilla's plugins. It's made converts of lots of my friends and colleagues too! Also use Thunderbird for mail now, and it rocks!
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
WhenU pales in comparison to CoolWebSearch. If yo udon't know what that is, it's a Trojan that drops files on your computer that change your IE settings, slow down/crash IE/your system, and can download and execute arbitrary unsigned code, and one version (CWS.ehhtp) tracks everything you do on the Web that begins with WWW, as it changes the prefix "WWW" to "http://ehttp.cc/?". Over 23 variants of it have been documented in _five months_.
WhenU is at least installed through legal means. CWS installs through holes in the MS Java Machine.
If the courts wish to create injunctions against spyware/adware, why don't they just go against these first?
(For more information on CWS, if you're interested, check out Merijn's section on it. His CWShredder tool is quite nice.)
Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
Here's an idea, most of these tools do their job by attaching themselves to the IE process, something IE allows. Microsoft should make it blatantly obvious which programs have attached itself to IE, and make them easily removable.
Heh, but who is Microsoft to listen to a slashdotter. However, it's probably possible to make an extension that does the above, just like the extension that stops the "%01" URL-hiding bug.
AFAIK, IE just looks in a registry key to see which CLSIDs of programs want to attach to it, and then load these programs when an IE instance is running.
What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
Use keyword-bookmarks or Mozilla's URL-bar search feature.
Make a bookmark for "http://www.google.com/search?q=%s&btnG=Google+Sea rch" (without the Slashdot generated space and the quotes)
Assign a keyword (g, for example)
Whenever you want to google: "keyword what you're looking for" (g paris hilton)
Or just type what you're looking for, press cursor-up, press enter (if you're using Mozilla, have this feature enabled and chosen your favorite search engine in the preferences).
The problem with this kind of popups is that they're not opened by a little JavaScript in the HTML source, but by a tiny program running in the background. AFAIK, that is.
So I'd think the popup blocking in WinXPSP2 (for example) will not be able to block this kind of popups. And well, if it will work, the dorks at Gator can just alter the program so that some weird window opens up with a HTML component in it, instead of a real browser window.
So yeah, this kind of software might just keep the popups alive... What can one do against this?
Excerpt from our Policy regarding Pop Up ads.
Chatmag.com DOES NOT USE POP UP ADS!
If a user of Chatmag is viewing a pop up ad, it IS NOT being served by Chatmag.com but by one of several third party advertising servers. These third party advertising servers place a program on a users system, and then while browsing, serve ads from their servers.
If you have installed a file sharing program or "wallet", from such companies as: Gator, (Note: Gator has changed their name to Claria) Kazaa, WhenU, BearShare, or AudioGalaxy, you may have downloaded an ad server as part of their software. These programs are authorized by you, when you read the agreement before you installed their software (you did read it, didn't you?). We realize most people do not read their agreement, and inadvertently download ad server software, which is now happily serving you pop up advertisements when you visit a Chatmag.com page.
We strongly advise getting and running Ad Aware, and dump all ad servers, unless you like pop up advertisements, and other web sites losing revenue by these programs.
Please note that Chatmag.com loses revenue by the use of any third party ad serving software, and we highly resent others being paid for our hard work and dedication to provide only relevant advertising, or none at all, depending upon the specific topic page.
Pete Carr Owner Chatmag.com
yeah i pretty much have given up email. i dont email friends/family anymore, i just call them using my trusty cell phone and free long distance. the only reason i have an email account is to sign up for stuff on the internet. and i do have three accounts for that, only one do i use after i verify that the company i gave my email too isnt spamming me. other than that i stay away from email. althoguh i do use IM a lot.
023AD01("Child", "Evil");