Edelman

C-NetMedia continues deceptive practices

February 19, 2008

Alex Eckelberry reports that despite press on the matter, C-NetMedia is still trying to fool people. I’m afraid it’s going to take the FTC to handle this one. Apparently the search engines aren’t self-policing on this one. Article and screenshots: Incredible — C-NetMedia still continues its grossly deceptive practices

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Ben Edelman on C-NetMedia’s business and marketing practices, “Work To Be Done”

February 16, 2008

Additional comment on Certifiedbug’s “C-NetMedia’s Deceptive Practices”. In his missive at C-NetMedia , Edelman criticized several prominent companies for failing to hold C-NetMedia accountable for its practices. Google and other search engines could block the widespread deceptive ads from C-NetMedia and its marketing partners. C-Net and its partners have continued these practices for more than [...]

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C-NetMedia Deceptive Practices

February 14, 2008

Spyware Researcher Ben Edelman continues his investigation on C-NetMedia. Critiquing C-NetMedia’s Anti-Spyware Offerings and Advertising Practices Not every “anti-spyware” program is what it claims to be. Some truly have users’ interests at heart — identifying and removing bona fide risks to privacy, security, stability, or performance. Others resort to a variety of tricks to confuse [...]

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Sears Violation of Its Privacy Policy

January 5, 2008

Bits from Bill: Your Sears Purchase Details Available to World Ben Edelman update January 4, 2008. Sears Exposes Customer Purchase History in Violation of Its Privacy Policy. Sears’s Response I wrote to Sears ManageMyHome via the addresses on their Contact Us page. To their credit, they responded quickly (less than ninety minutes). However, their reply [...]

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Sears installs ComScore tracking software

December 31, 2007

Ben Edelman, anti-spyware researcher and Harvard Business School Assistant Professor. Late last month, Benjamin Googins (a senior researcher in the Anti-Spyware unit at Computer Associates) critiqued a ComScore installation performed by Sears’ “Sears Holdings Community” (“My SHC Community” or “SHC”). After reviewing the installation sequence, Ben concluded that the installation offered “very little mention of [...]

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Zango loses to Kaspersky

August 29, 2007

Zango’s court case against Kaspersky has been thrown out, because Kaspersky has immunity as a result of the Communications Decency Act. The decision can be seen at Ben Edelman’s site. (PDF) Ben has also updated his list of legal actions: Threats Against Spyware Detectors, Removers, and Critics

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Ben Edelman Alleges Zango in Violation of FTC Agreement

July 31, 2007

Among the allegations: Widespread Zango “ActiveX” Installations without Unavoidable, Prominent Disclosure of Material Terms (XP SP1 and Earlier). Details. Widespread Zango Banner-Based Installations without Unavoidable, Prominent Disclosure of Material Terms (XP SP2). Details. Ongoing Zango Installations with No Disclosure Whatsoever. Details. Unlabeled Zango Ads – Toolbars, Desktop Icons, and Pop-Ups. Details. Zango Ads for Bogus [...]

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ComScore Doesn’t Always Get User Consent

June 29, 2007

Spyware Researcher Ben Edelman published an article today regarding ComScore’s recent multiple RelevantKnowledge installations that occur without user consent. Article and Video

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Zango’s CEO speaks of lessons learnt

June 1, 2007

Washington CEO Article By Keith Smith, co-founder and chief executive officer of Zango Inc., an online advertising and media company. Every company runs into obstacles. My company, Zango Inc., has encountered more than most. Then we encountered an obstacle that threatened our existence. The third-party software distribution network we had established had to be dismantled. [...]

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Spyware vendors trying to clean up their images… but

May 21, 2007

Ben Edelman Spyware Still Cheating Merchants and Legitimate Affiliates Spyware vendors are trying to clean up their images. For example, Zango settled a FTC investigation, then last week sued PC Tools for detecting and removing Zango software. Meanwhile, Integrated Search Technologies (makers of a variety of software previously widely installed without consent) introduced a new [...]

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