So Much (Mobile) Anger >>
<< BT Going IP
 tdicon 


Scams

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Jun 9th 2004 2:26pm





Adware Uses IE Flaw

from the wonderful dept

While most adware companies have used sneaky, but legitimate, ways to get their products onto your computer, someone has now discovered one that is apparently exploiting a flaw in IE to install itself and (as most of these things do) cause all sorts of trouble. Microsoft claims that the company that has done so has broken the law, and they plan to go after them. While the typical response is that this is yet another reason to avoid IE, most people still remain stuck to the program.

7 Comments | Leave a Comment..


If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...
 

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  

    stuck to IE

    identicon
    Adam, Jun 9th, 2004 @ 5:06pm

    I remain 'stuck' on IE because MANY pages STILL don't look right on other browsers. By other browsers I mean Mozilla, the only other browser I find worth the trouble...

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    Love the sneak spyware that comes with Netscape

    identicon
    dorpus, Jun 9th, 2004 @ 6:16pm

    Even after you check "no" for everything, it installs a lot of nasty stuff anyway.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    No Subject Given

    identicon
    Matt, Jun 10th, 2004 @ 6:14am

    why does MS claim they have broken the law by doing this? Did they have to be able to view MS code to find this flaw which was otherwise secure because of its obscurity?

    I also find it amusing that this is an "extremely critical" flaw...because "critical" just doesn't cut it these days

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    No Subject Given

    identicon
    NOBODY, Jun 10th, 2004 @ 7:33am

    They broke the law because this particular adware is not adware. It's a virus with adware in it. Virus writing for commercial or private reasons is illegal. It's a felony here in the US. I believe the charge is "Willful defacement of a computer system."

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  

    Re: No Subject Given

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jun 10th, 2004 @ 1:57pm

    It's a virus with adware in it.
    Do you have any reference for that claim?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  

    Re: No Subject Given

    identicon
    Sam Nobody, Jun 10th, 2004 @ 8:01pm

    If it needs to exploit an IE flaw, it's a virus, not garden variety adware. It's pretty simple.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  

    Re: No Subject Given

    identicon
    Phil, Jul 5th, 2004 @ 9:36pm

    I no longer use IE. I am now with Mozilla which is far more stable and so much faster then IE. But changing browsers isn't the only way to avoid nasties. Just watching what you download will help.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>


So Much (Mobile) Anger >>
<< BT Going IP
 tdicon 

A word from our Sponsors...
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss

Powered by Postrank

From the Techdirt Archive...
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This