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.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Adam, 9 Jun 2004 @ 5:06pm

    stuck to IE

    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...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    dorpus, 9 Jun 2004 @ 6:16pm

    Love the sneak spyware that comes with Netscape

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

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Matt, 10 Jun 2004 @ 6:14am

    No Subject Given

    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

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    NOBODY, 10 Jun 2004 @ 7:33am

    No Subject Given

    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."

    link to this | view in thread ]

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

    Re: No Subject Given

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

    link to this | view in thread ]

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

    Re: No Subject Given

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

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Phil, 5 Jul 2004 @ 9:36pm

    Re: No Subject Given

    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.