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Is Flixster Using Deceptive Viral Practices?
Talaria writes "The social networking movie review site Flixster is requesting their users' AOL, Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail passwords, and then using them to access users' address books and send 'invitations' to join Flixster, making them appear to come from the user. The password prompt screen includes the ISP's logo right next to the password prompt. Rather than hiding this little 'feature,' Flixster brags about it in an interview after receiving $2 million in venture funding earlier this year." American Venture Magazine notes: "...such practices are becoming increasingly... common as new and even established web sites look to attract visitors without expensive marketing campaigns and a hefty advertising budget."
Facebook does they same. They ask for your e-mail address and e-mail address password, then spam your contact list. I can't believe people will give them their password, but some actually do. Preposterous!
There is no way of telling if the password used is provided to a third party without consent or if the site is hacked. Be careful with your personal data, and keep your login to yourself as much as possible.
If you create a site with interactive content - think twice before if you really need your visitors to log in to request the content.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
If you look at the lousy screen shots it is painfully obvious they are being up front and quite clear what they intend to do and how to skip the invitation process.
I'm not saying I'm a fan of their scheme, but it's not like they're scamming anyone. You even get to select who you want to invite.
I guess some people feel they have to produce content, even if they have to dress a non-story up in inflammatory language and ignore the facts of the situation. Gotta drive those Adsense impressions.
Platform advocacy is like choosing a favorite severely developmentally disabled child.
This isn't new, it's done by almost every social network. As long as it doesn't automatically spam your entire address book it's a perfectly acceptable feature.
sms.ac did exactly the same thing; but didn't ask permission to email people. Whilst you'd think people would know better even Joi Ito got caught by this, what's worse is they spammed before the signup process was complete. Joi immediately quit using the service and blogged a public apology, referring to sms.ac as spammers. Next thing you know they sent him a cease and desist demanding Joi stopped calling them spammers.
Apparently, the user has to manually select the addresses that will be spammed ("invited"), and click a button.
This is by far not as bad as what wayn.com does (or at least used to do). They were just sending out their spam through your account without your knowledge. See "WAYN - Where Are You Now? Warning" or Wayn.com : phishing alert, ne vous faites pas couillonner ! (the last one in French). (found these at the end of a French blog post about other deceptive practices of Wayn.com)
Fair warning, don't put a return address on that. It's a federal offense to send hazardous material (feces being classified as biohazard) through the mail. At least in the USA.
"Growing old is inevitable; growing up is optional."
I logged into Google Video today and the feature you describe doesn't seem to exist anymore. Unlike Flixster, Google has a deal with News Corp to provide search features and targeted ads for Myspace. Google's logos are plastered all over Myspace to the point where it almost looks like the site IS Google from time to time. So, the concept that you could crosspost seems almost sane.
Hell, Blogger (which is google) has a "feature" that will let the service p0wn your FTP server by posting directly to the server. This sort of behaviour isn't new and I'm surprised Flixster gets tagged as horrible and evil for doing something everyone is already doing.
I hate to admit it but I fell for the FTP one and used the service for a good six months until it dawned on me what I had done. I immediately cancelled my shell account and moved my blog to blogspot. Sometimes even people who understand the security implications can get tripped up. This doesn't excuse the now absent behaviour of posting videos within your account but at least the idea seems somewhat understandable. Plus, Google has a history of doing these sort of things in the interest of "interoperability."
Yeah, right... interoperability. I'll keep telling myself that. Maybe it will make it true.
I thought technology should be able to solve this problem. A quick google search turns up The Firefox Password Maker Plugin. Looks like it'll generate secure unique passwords that you don't even have to know to use a given service, and control them all with a master password.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?