Is It Tech Rage Or Bad Customer Service Rage? >>
<< The Electronic Voting Movie Diebold Didn't...
 tdicon 

Overhype

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Nov 6th 2006 11:44pm





Can A Special Logo Protect Buyers From Fake Pharmaceutical Sites?

from the seems-unlikely dept

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society in the UK is preparing a plan for authorized online pharmaceutical to place a special logo on the site so that buyers know they can trust it. That sounds like a nice idea until you realize how useless it's likely to be. First of all, it's only for UK-based sites, and as the article makes clear, some of the problems are caused by people shopping around for cheaper drugs and finding them on foreign sites. Second, a logo is pretty easy to copy. This is the problem Truste has faced for years. While they claim to protect consumers, the logo is often copied and just placed on sites. While you're supposed to be able to click through and make sure that the logo is legit, too many people either don't know to do so, or don't even know what they're looking for if they do click through. It's admirable to try to protect people from fake or bad drugs purchased online, but it sounds like this particular plan is only going to make people think they're safer when they may not be.

14 Comments | Leave a Comment

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

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  
    identicon
    Sohrab, Nov 7th, 2006 @ 1:11am

    ...yes it can???...

     

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

  2.  
    identicon
    David., Nov 7th, 2006 @ 1:48am

    There is no way this will work. As in no way at all. All a fake drug site would have to do would be copy the logo, and link it to the appropriate certification, and viola! it is done, and they can safely continue scamming, possibly even easier than before.

     

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

  3.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Nov 7th, 2006 @ 1:52am

    Re:

    agree with David

     

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

  4.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Nov 7th, 2006 @ 2:26am

    So, on the logo, tell them to go to this site .... and check it's validity.
    You can never protect everyone, but you can protect some.

     

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

  5.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Nov 7th, 2006 @ 4:52am

    Re:

    I think most scams would be smart enough to remove or fake the link.

     

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

  6.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Nov 7th, 2006 @ 6:09am

    Well it depends on how indepth the logo is, you could have it use multipul layers in the browser to make the image and make one of the layers static to the background so that when you scrolled part of the image would stay put and the other part would scroll with you. this would help to prevent people just taking a screenshot of the image and pasting it with a link on their site.

     

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

  7.  
    identicon
    ebrke, Nov 7th, 2006 @ 7:50am

    It Is Always About Perception

    Of course, it won't really make people safer, but you have to understand that IT DOESN'T MATTER. The only thing that counts is that most people will THINK that they are safer. It's modelled on the new "airline security" in the U.S.

     

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

  8.  
    identicon
    PhysicsGuy, Nov 7th, 2006 @ 7:50am

    Re: AC

    It doesn't matter how "clever" you try to engineer something of the sort, it can always be copied or reversed engineered... always.

     

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

  9.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Nov 7th, 2006 @ 7:53am

    Re:

    ummm... except that I can browse the html for the image(s) and download/copy them to my server...

     

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

  10.  
    identicon
    PhysicsGuy, Nov 7th, 2006 @ 7:54am

    zomg... this is link hell... wtf did you do?!?!?!

     

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

  11.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Nov 7th, 2006 @ 8:21am

    Re:

    ...Oh come on. you think you can stop a scammer by making it hard for him to screenshot stuff? How stupid do you think these guys are?

     

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

  12.  
    identicon
    dijital, Nov 7th, 2006 @ 9:21am

    Logo?

    Is the logo shown on any site yet? I'd like to have a look how they plan to do this.

     

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

  13.  
    identicon
    Rocko C, Nov 7th, 2006 @ 1:34pm

    protecting people on the net

    I'm working in a IT dept and we've always said the same thing, the only way to protect people against scam like that is to educate them, trust me, we you face trouble like a customer wondering why his 5 1/2 inch floppy doesn't work and you find a CD rom in it there is no limit to stupidity. one easy way to make sure people don't get scammed, there is no safer place to buy drugs then a site that you got from your pharmacist when they got the prescription or over the phone.

    I mean why trying to re-invent the wheel when you just need some common sense.

     

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

  14.  
    identicon
    Rocko C, Nov 7th, 2006 @ 1:34pm

    protecting people on the net

    I'm working in a IT dept and we've always said the same thing, the only way to protect people against scam like that is to educate them, trust me, we you face trouble like a customer wondering why his 5 1/2 inch floppy doesn't work and you find a CD rom in it there is no limit to stupidity. one easy way to make sure people don't get scammed, there is no safer place to buy drugs then a site that you got from your pharmacist when they got the prescription or over the phone.

    I mean why trying to re-invent the wheel when you just need some common sense.

     

    [ 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>
Is It Tech Rage Or Bad Customer Service Rage? >>
<< The Electronic Voting Movie Diebold Didn't...
 tdicon 
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss
A word from our Sponsors...
Sponsored Resource
Essential Reading
Techdirt Reading List
Techdirt Insider Chat

A word from our Sponsors...
Recent Stories

Friday

7:39pm: Rice University Professor: SkyNET's Gonna Take Ur Jerbs! (8)
6:33pm: Make Art, Not Law (7)
5:27pm: AP's Attempt At DRM'ing The News Shuts Down (8)
5:00pm: DailyDirt: DIY Junk Food (2)
3:40pm: Suburban Express Goes Double Or Nothing On Their Aggressive Behavior (6)
2:34pm: Want To Destroy Any Hope Of Serious Cybersecurity? Give The DOJ Its Desired Backdoor Wiretaps On All Communications (14)
1:34pm: Nintendo Exchanges Goodwill For Control; Issues Mass Monetization Claims On Let's Play Videos (28)
12:32pm: Indian Publishing Firm Can't Take A Little Criticism, Threatens Blogger With $1 Billion Lawsuit, Criminal Charges (8)
11:29am: Lots Of People Don't Turn Off Their Devices When They Fly (90)
10:32am: Bogus Lawsuit Plus Threats To Those Who Write About It Leads To Epic Response (55)
More arrow
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This