Why Does Adware Persist? Because There's A Market For It
from the getting-to-the-source dept
A new report lays some of the blame for the scourge of adware at the feet of the companies that buy ad space on adware-based networks. While obviously the financial benefit of selling ads drives the adware vendors, the non-shortage of people willing to advertise through spam makes it pretty clear that should the relatively well-known companies the report cites drop out, there are plenty of others that will step up. These companies continue to use these ads for a reason -- they must work. So, like spam, if people really want to get rid of adware, quit clicking on it, right? But that lets these companies off the hook rather easily. They'd never think of advertising via spam, but exploiting adware apparently doesn't carry the same concerns -- particularly when the ads are bought through a complex network of aggregators and affiliates so they can claim ignorance at the end.
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Adware companies act similiarily. As long as there is a buyer, some will make the product available.
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Adware is not all bad.
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Re: Adware is not all bad.
sometimes I see deals that come up that I actually click on and buy or go to another site for more info...
only thing I HATE is that some popups that I don't want, I can't find the close button anywhere or easily...they make it intentionally small where you HAVE to click on a dot or make it blend into the background so you can't see it....
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Re: Adware is not all bad.
come to think of it, why dont we all go write our names on his restaurants so he will have them handy when he wants to order?
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...
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in other news
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i just love advertising...
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To be honest...
An old business partner of mine was about to opt in to a spam blasting comapany to sell our product simply because he was convinced (without any proof) that our product would sell just be getting the name out. I had to retrain him to realize that he would just be throwing our advertising dollars out the window with zero return, and that the end result would just be propagation of spam and our money in the pockets of spammers. People can just be complete ignoramouses when it comes to technology.
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Re: in other news
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Advertising Evil?
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Advertising Evil?
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Unscrupulous agents of the unscrupulous
I do not understand how these companies can escape punishment for the actions of their Agents, who after all were hired to perform certain tasks and paid for doing so.
If the Agents are violating the contracts signed with the original providers of the ads, lets see some lawsuits against them for contract breach, and some turning of State's Evidence against the rogue Agents.
The absence of such lawsuits and such testimony tells us what we already knew--that the Agents are doing exactly what they were hired to do.
They infest your computer because that is their job, and they do what their boss tells them.
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Fine them
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spamware
When software hooks into your operating system without proper consent (a 200 page EULA doesn't count when the clause that says adware will installed is page 150 or so) or even if you click the NO button - then this is intrusive malware and the people should be prosecuted for hacking in the same way the botnet hackers are being prosecuted.
They have just compromised your system.
If your advert appears on an illegal botnet operation you should be concerned - although ISPs might be covered by the "common carrier" law - adbots and adware suppliers are not common carriers.
If it was found that an advertiser was sponsoring an illegal botnet through payment - I do not believe the common carrier law is applicable.
The advertiser could well be in big trouble for funding cybercrime or even cyberterrorism if the botnet was large and devastating enough - especially if the same botnet was implicated in shakedown operations via DDoS or other cyber-intimidation tactics.
In short the criminals will continue to use these tactics - but legitimate companies will shy away because of the large amount of corporate risk.
Botnets, adware and spyware are here to stay - its how we deal with the culprits that is the problem.
Most worringly - the DMCA protects the "bad guys" - reverse engineering adbot technology is illegal under the DMCA - if the DMCA makes it illegal for us to be protected from malware - who is going to protect us?
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ADWARE is bad
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