Gator Sues Company For Blocking Their Pop Ups

from the tricky-issues dept

Well, this situation is getting more complex. Gator, the company that is involved with a bunch of lawsuits from people trying to stop Gator's pop up ads from showing over their sites, has started a legal battle of its own. It's suing another company for actively blocking Gator's ads, saying that the decision of what happens on someone's computer should be up to the end-user, and not the website that person visits. While I agree with the principle of this, I think Gator is being a little misleading. First of all, while they do get people to click through an agreement, they're not the most forthcoming company when it comes to telling their users that they're installing adware which will take over their computer. Second, visiting a website suggests that the person wants to see what that website has put up - and not what another company wants. That act alone seems to suggest that they're okay with what the website deems is okay - on that specific website. If you take Gator's argument to the logical extreme (a risky move, I'll grant you) it suggests that no website should be allowed to display content - since it might not be what the user has approved.
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  • identicon
    Timmmay!, 11 Nov 2002 @ 9:47am

    Gator should burn in hell

    The one thing I guarantee is that 90% of gators "customers" didn't read the Click Through agreement that was imbedded in whatever software they actually wanted. Gators parasiteware is the worst of the worst (no uninstaller!) and anyone who wants to block there crap is fine in my books.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 15 Feb 2003 @ 2:04pm

      Re: Gator should burn in hell

      I am one of those people who did not know I was downloading it and I am very careful about downloading anything. But I did remove it :)

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    LittleW0lf, 11 Nov 2002 @ 10:49am

    EFF is debating their involvement...

    As much as I agree with the EFF's statement that they are interested in this case because a failure would leave the door open for malicious or ill-informed websites to "infect control" over their users visiting their public websites...though this unfortunately already exists as people are suing each other for exposing public information available on their website...(think about it.) I don't think EFF should be wasting their money fighting for Gator.

    This company trespasses on computers without the expressed permission of the computer's user (though it could be implyed that the user installed some software they bought which included Gator, and thus the user gave Gator permission to access their computer,) then uses that access to display intrusive marketing to the user. There are many other better posterboys out there for EFF, let Gator fight this battle themselves...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2002 @ 11:00am

      how to remove gator (and save! while we are at it

      can anyone show me how to remove the gator and save! applications from
      my computer? much appreciated. they don't show up in add/remove programs
      in control panel.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        LittleW0lf, 11 Nov 2002 @ 11:08am

        Re: how to remove gator (and save! while we are at

        can anyone show me how to remove the gator and save! applications from my computer?

        Best way is to reformat the drive and install Linux...

        But seriously, I've deleted the directories they reside in (usually they exist in the Program Files Directory,) and then remove the traces of them from the registry. That usually gets rid of them.

        Also contact the companies which distribute the gator software with their commercial product and tell them that you don't appreciate their bundling of a spyware product from a 3rd party (Gator) with their commercial products, and will discontinue buying their software until they stop this practice.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2002 @ 2:25pm

        Re: how to remove gator (and save! while we are at

        Download ad-aware from www.lavasoftusa.com

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Rick, 16 Dec 2002 @ 9:19am

        Re: how to remove gator (and save! while we are at

        Use ad-aware. Worked great for me for GATOR HELL! And it is freeware! The link below should work. If not just searc for ad-aware. http://www.majorgeeks.com/article.php?sid=506 Ad-aware is an award winning, free multi adware removal utility, that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known adware components and lets you remove them safely. Many options like scanning depth or automatic modes can be set in the preferences menu. Ad-aware features an easy to use wizard-style interface, guiding you through the scanning and removal process. With features like BackupRestore functionality, excluding of selected components, Multi language support, shell integration, highly improved user interface and many more improvements... New in AA 5.83 build 2930: - faster scanning - logfiles include more file details - Mousewheel error corrected when scrolling in the "sections to scan" window - Errors encountered with the use of the "logfile detail level" options corrected

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    jd, 4 Dec 2002 @ 10:09am

    gator need to be stoped

    gator has pushed there limits . im having more probblem with them . a few year ago i tryed gator once . it messed up my computer. so i alway made sure i dint have gator .
    but the other day i went to get the new icq 2003a beta . and i was bombard with gator .
    now i have pop up runing with out even running. explorer. i think gator need to be shut down for good .

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    matt, 2 Apr 2003 @ 12:12am

    Wire it's jaws shut.

    After spending a large amount of time removing gator from my companies computers (computers the company owns - not the user) I'd like to see gator blocked. Half the users didn't know anything was installing and the other half thought it was companyh related. The various gator programs caused numerous problems on our client machine - including very poor Internet connection. A number of machines were rebuilt before gator was discovered. Perhaps i should charge my time to gator.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jennifer, 4 Apr 2003 @ 3:50am

    Let's help them find Hell

    I send this email to Gator every day. Please help me in making the lives of every employee and company associated with Gator so miserable they pray for a trip to Hell for quiet solitude.


    Your company is a boil on the ass of the internet community. Whoever started this company should either cease and disist this horrible operation or consider suicide as a viable option. I and every internet user curse the day that such a lecherous body of operation could have been conceived. I hope you all burn in hell for screwing up our computers and badgering us with endless popups. Have a great day, that is if your karma ever allows such a digrace to take place.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      John, 20 Jun 2003 @ 7:44pm

      Re: Let's help them find Hell

      I think we should save some loathing for another company deserving of our wrath, namely WhenU.com, which bombards the computer user with an application named "Save!" or "SaveNow" They never got my permission to put their crap on my computer and---similar to the stories I hear from Gator victims---causes great problems and wasted time in trying to remove it from my computer. I've gotten some great success with anti-pop-up programs, but I'm still trying to remove the unwanted application and accessories like ClockSync that work with the program. We must stand together and boycott any of these ads that WE DO SEE without our permission, even make telephone calls to and ask them if they think it's productive for them to hound computer users with their ads nobody wants. I have sent nasty letters to whenu.com also, wishing they "rot in hell."

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    waldo, 8 Dec 2003 @ 7:27am

    Wheres Steve Irwin when you need him????

    i hate gator you stupid bastard pop up ad thingy majig

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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