Quebec Lawsuit Highlights Problems With The Software Procurement Process

Zango's Latest Trick: Pitching Fake Batman MMORPG To Get People To Download Adware

from the and-so-it-goes dept

Wed, Sep 10th 2008 5:22pm — Mike Masnick

We've talked about Zango's continued claims that it's a changed company from the one that paid huge fines for tricking people into downloading its intrusive adware, but somethings never really seem to change. An anonymous reader points us to an ad found on a bunch of legitimate video game sites recently, pitching a new Batman online virtual world game, but if you click through, it turns out that it's just a severely limited demo version of a client-side Batman game from 2001. Despite the ad promising all sorts of things, such as "play online with your friends" the actual download has none of that... but it does include an install of Zango. Chris Boyd, who figured all this out wonders why the sites that ran this ad did so, knowing that it was almost certainly bogus. Zango, of course, will blame a "rogue affiliate" which is what they always do -- but Boyd wonders why they won't actually identify who's responsible.

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

Filed Under: adware, affiliates, batman, gaming
Companies: zango

18 Comments

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

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 10 Sep 2008 @ 5:36pm

but Boyd wonders why they won't actually identify who's responsible.

Honor among theives ?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Sep 2008 @ 6:14pm

Isn't "zango" used in the Batman series along side of "socko" and "pow" ?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
DOOKIE SNAX, 10 Sep 2008 @ 6:14pm

I hope Zango crashes and burns. They're snakes..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Trevlac, 10 Sep 2008 @ 7:28pm

Until zango adware no longer appears on my clients' computers, I hate them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Terri Tacky, 10 Sep 2008 @ 7:46pm

Zango Sucks Great Big Gobbs of Greasy Grimey Gopher Guts.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- bobknight, 11 Sep 2008 @ 12:44am
  
  Re:
  Your way to kind Terri.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Sep 2008 @ 7:49pm

Uh, I think a few bigger companies are going to fight back at this one . . .
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Davis Freeberg, 10 Sep 2008 @ 10:16pm

They Pull Dirty Tricks
One of the most obnoxious things about Zango is when their pop up shows up, if you hit cancel too quickly it actually installs the software because they use a long worded question that basically says to hit OK to cancel and cancel to install. I could see how a lot of people download the program because they're clicking too fast and once it's on your machine say good night. At this point, I'm pretty much boycotting any site that has the Zango software as well as any site that uses interstitial ads (although that a different issue)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 11 Sep 2008 @ 6:29am
  
  Re: They Pull Dirty Tricks
  ... once it's on your machine say good night.
  
  1) wipe hard drive
  2) reinstall OS
  3) start over (you did backup your data - right?)
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Not Applicable, 29 Sep 2008 @ 6:45am
    
    Re: Re: They Pull Dirty Tricks
    If you have to wipe your drive to get rid of Zango (which always seems to come with a side of ClickSpring and Virtumod), then you need a better anti-malware software.
    
    You were being sarcastic, right?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Sep 2008 @ 10:32pm

This is why User Access Control is a good thing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Sep 2008 @ 4:11am

Boycott them . . . dammit!
"Hopefully, there are still enough Senators who haven't been convinced by the propaganda provided by the entertainment industry on this issue to recognize what's actually at stake here."

What game sites are they, we should know so that we might never frequent them again.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Raj, 3 Oct 2008 @ 12:32am

wat is fake-piching
what is fake-pitching
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Deb, 1 Jan 2009 @ 1:55pm

They use other methods too
Had to download and install software, not fully aware at the time, clicked the link (very realistic impersonation of the real site's url) to install and next thing I know Zango is installing on my machine. THEN, after it installs, I get a message that states the actual download I was after could not be downloaded from their site, it has been removed. As I found the real site and started the download, Norton went ballistic...I'm STILL cleaning the crap off my pc 2 days later as Norton finds new instances. I may just wipe it and start over.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
thenson, 23 Feb 2009 @ 2:56pm

Zango
WOW! I'm so glad I read this! I just started to download
it and decided to read up on it first! They make it look so real!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Squiggles, 26 Feb 2009 @ 6:21pm

Zango Must DIE!!!!!!
I hope who ever made zango burns in hell
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Quack, 21 Mar 2009 @ 10:21am

Zango horror
so I'm on aim nothing special... a random user sends me a porno advertisement... no thanks. Zango reads the input and starts opening thousands of porn pages which open more by themselves ignoring pop up blocker.

If you have Zango your volume should always be turned on low :) I plan to make a lot of money some day.. Me and my friends who are all in programming have all experienced Zango, and we will bring it down. Legally or illegally... :D
My friends currently hack school networks for fun remotely shutting down computers and 1 of my friends is RICH so Zango is FUCKED like my last computer was :)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Endymion Spring, 21 Jun 2010 @ 3:58pm

Zango & Quack's Comment
I have a few things to say:1. Legally I agree with,petitions & Lawyers, but illegally is a big No-NO.2. Messing with computers is not right,and hacking is just plain illegal! Stop it,okay? 3.you're right,Zango is evil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]