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Download.com Bundling Adware With Free Software

Posted by Unknown on from the install-our-useful-toolbar dept.

Zocalo writes "In a post to the Nmap Hackers list Nmap author Fyodor accuses Download.com of wrapping a trojan installer (as detected by various AV applications when submitted to VirusTotal) around software including Nmap and VLC Media Player. The C|Net installer bundles a toolbar, changes browser settings, and, potentially, performs other shenanigans — all under the logo of the application the user thought they might have been downloading. Apparently, this isn't the first time they have done this, either."

4 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. This is news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Download.com have always done this... I thought this was how they funded the site.

    1. Re:This is news? by Cederic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Honestly, the whole story is nonsense created an a very ignorant person. Free software was never intended to keep programmers from making a living

      Sorry but no. The whole story is a very real warning to a user community that a large company is acting in an unethical and immoral manner by trading on the name and reputation of someone else.

      Making money through advertising on the download site isn't causing any problem. Pretending to offer Fyodor's downloader while in fact seeking to install other software is a trojan attack and bad behaviour no matter how you look at it.

      Calling this nonsense fails to understand the key issue and misrepresents both the complaint, and the complainant.

  2. Go to the software producer's site by mirix · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's rather mindboggling that a decade into the 21st century, people are still going to third party download outfits like this.

    Maybe someone wants to enlighten me as to why... I'm not coming up with much.

    --
    Sent from my PDP-11
    1. Re:Go to the software producer's site by fsckmnky · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There are a few reasons software repositories are popular that I can think of off the top of my head.

      Much like an "app store" for smart phone apps, its convenient to have 1 place to go to look for an app, when you have general requirements or a specific type of app in mind, and not so much a specific app.

      People are creatures of habit, and once they learn how to use the download.com ( or some other site like freshmeat.net ) interface, they just return to it out of habit, and the fact that they already know how to search and navigate the site.

      As for why developers use sites like this, the visibility factor comes into play. Since the repositories have a returning user base, the app becomes that much more visible, as opposed to getting lost in search engine results.

      Another incentive for small developers, is the bandwidth. They dont have to manage the large amount of bandwidth required to deliver apps, the repository does this. They also don't have to pay for a commercial ISP account that allows them to run servers, as most residential account agreements forbid the operation of servers ( although only in agreement, not necessarily technically prevented. )