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Browser Tools Aim to Warn Surfers of Spyware, Spam

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the paying-someone-to-think-for-me dept.

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "New Web tools aim to protect surfers by flagging sites that are associated with viruses, spam or other scourges, but they sometimes disagree over whether a site is safe. From the article: 'Scandoo's service sometimes misses the mark in its efforts to flag adult content. On a recent day, it gave a green rating to the web site for Maxim Magazine's U.K. division, even though it contains nudity. It gave a red rating to the magazine's U.S. site, which contains no nudity. After an inquiry from the Online Journal, [executive Dan] Nadir said Scandoo decided to change the rating, reclassifying the U.K. site as red by default. "It was clear that it was misclassified, so we classified it correctly," Mr. Nadir said. A spokesman for Maxim Online said the discrepancy showed Scandoo's technology is "clearly broken."'"

4 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Where's the Firefox Extension for this? by dhasenan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Better yet, where's the one that automatically directs me to red-rated sites?

  2. Oh, not this again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    In Communist China, all web sites have Red flags...of one kind or another...

  3. * Warning! This site contains porn and spyware! * by sl4shd0rk · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, that'll keep me off it.

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  4. First time... by BkBen7 · · Score: 3, Funny

    The first time I read the title I read it as

    Bowser Aims to Warn Surfers of Spyware, Spam

    sinse when does the king koopa care about me?

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