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The Spyware Inferno

Posted by michael on from the where-wise-men-fear-to-tread dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Ever thought there should be a scale for quantifying the evil Spyware does? In an editorial article at news.com.com, a Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist uses the levels of hell in Dante's Inferno to do just that. The article also goes into depth on how vendors, and Claria in particular, make money - of particular interest, 31% of Claria's revenue came through Overture. This may explain why Yahoo took so long to list Claria as Adware in its anti-spyware toolbar."

10 of 437 comments (clear)

  1. So... by Edmund+Blackadder · · Score: 4, Funny

    Which circle do Cilicon Valley venture capitalists go to?

  2. lol... by jmrobinson · · Score: 5, Funny

    she called us "the slashdot crowd."

    but...down to business
    All right...who told her we would actually get off our asses and burn someone at the stake?

  3. Re:No... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thanks to spyware, I am still make a living.

    Well, at least I can see why you didn't become a writer.

  4. Prepare for slashdotting and death threats... by wikdwarlock · · Score: 4, Funny

    For God's sake, man, don't answer! Can you imagine the wrath of /. once they find you?

    --

    "I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." -Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
  5. Re:No... by syn3rg · · Score: 5, Funny

    And thanks to you, I'm making pretty good cash cleaning up these systems that you infect ^H^H^H^H install.

    --
    The contents of this message have been doubly encrypted by ROT13
  6. ... which should be on the FRONT PAGE! by arhar · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think every time Claria is mentioned, it should be mentioned on the same page - hell, in the same sentence that Claria IS Gator, and their company name, names of everyone connected to the company, their significant others, and descendants down to the fifth generation, should be recorded in human history as worthless scum and vilified forever.

    1. Re:... which should be on the FRONT PAGE! by romper · · Score: 5, Funny

      No wonder the author of TFA said us Slashdotters think authors/supporters of spyware "should be burned at the stake". :)

      --
      Right is wrong when left is right.
    2. Re:... which should be on the FRONT PAGE! by AndroidCat · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's redundant. Besides, impalement is green-friendly.

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  7. TSR?? makes sense by gosand · · Score: 5, Funny
    I had to grin when you referred to the tray programs as TSRs. You've been doing this awhile, eh?

    From everything2.com:

    TSR: an acronym from the words Testosterone Sterilized (female) Rat. A TSR manifests the persistent estrus syndrome. Lacking ovulatory cycles, she is sterile. The condition is induced experimentally by injections of testosterone prior to the age of eleven days. The first five days of life are the most sensitive or critical ones. Smaller doses are then effective. The effect is life-long.

    So TSRs are sterilized vermin with teeth but no balls. Sounds about right.

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

  8. Re:Helpful tools by CSG_SurferDude · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't mind Bonzibuddy so much, but we keep getting these funky storage cabinets from someplace called www.martianbuddy.com.

    And what's worse is all the SPAM we keep getting from them too...

    How on Mars are we supposed to finish our teleporation chambers if all our email is filled with SPAM from those guys?

    --

    LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!