Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Alleged to Have Tricked People Into Switching to Bing, Using a Rogue Site

Black background



Summary: Rogue site harms people's computers by installing "a toolbar and chang[ing] their search provider and home page to Bing."

Included in the logs just posted is a story we only posted in daily links due to lack of time. The short story is that Microsoft is in the midst of another Bong [sic] scandal and shortly after it was revealed Microsoft retreated from it:

Is Facebook’s third largest advertiser really a site that tries to trick people into switching to Bing? Apparently not. Still, Bing’s not happy with the tactics and is ending its relationship with the publisher. The site, Make-My-Baby.com, now appears to have gone down. But earlier today, it was suggesting that people needed a plug-in to use it — one that would install a toolbar and change their search provider and home page to Bing. The site had allowed people to create baby characters....OK, I have some more answers from Bing. Make-My-Baby was an affiliate of Zugo....Bing also confirmed that it continues to have a relationship with Zugo. That also means that all the people who had their pages changed by Make-My-Baby will continue to get redirected to the benefit of both Zugo and Bing, as best I can tell, despite the fact that they were obtained in a way that Bing disagrees with.


Our readers did not all buy Microsoft's story and to quote last night's conversation about it:

DaemonFCI guess they got sick of all the "Why doesn't Last.FM work?" posts22:32
oiaohmDon't worry its normally only temp.  MinceR22:33
oiaohmFirst stage create more jobs than what is required.22:34
oiaohmSecond stage restruct the departments because they are  too expensive.22:34
oiaohmThird stage sacked too many todo the jobs.22:34
oiaohmthen return to first stage.22:35
oiaohmThis is kinda a never ending goverment cycle.22:35
--> cubezzz has joined this channel (~cubeman@maxhost.org).22:35
--> tessier has joined this channel (~treed@mail.copilotco.com).22:35
--> TRIdentica has joined this channel (~twitfolk@216.105.40.114).22:35
--> TRT has joined this channel (~twitfolk@216.105.40.114).22:35
oiaohm"first time the FCC has ever allowed discrimination on the Internet"  Boy people have short memories.22:36
oiaohmComputserv anyone.22:36
MinceRCompuServe isn't internet, afaik22:37
oiaohmIt was a wrapper over the internet that was used to restrict access.22:37
--> twitter has joined this channel (~pbj@173-17-111-185.client.mchsi.com).22:40
twitterRead Write web notices that a toolbar scam is part of Bing market share gain.  http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebooks_3rd_biggest_advertiser _is_a_bing_affilia.php22:41
TechrightsBot-trTitle:  Facebook's 3rd Biggest Advertiser is (Allegedly) a Bing Affiliate Scam (With Updates)  .::. Size~: 74.46 KB22:41
twitterThat and the forced default on cell phones, new computers inflicted with Windows, etc.22:42
oiaohmtwitter: Problem is I cannot see who is behind that.22:43
MinceRduh22:44
MinceRit's m$22:44
twitteryou really can't tell where hundreds of thousands of dollars for a make_my_baby.com scam comes from?22:44
MinceRthey're still struggling to get people to use bìng22:44
twitterno one would put up that kind of money on their own.22:44
twitterIt had to come from Microsoft.22:44
MinceRthey used to pay people to make them use whatever bìng happened to be called at the time22:45
MinceRthis is a different approach to the same goal22:45
oiaohmI have not looked close enough at that.22:45
oiaohmto check if the 3rd biggest has hidden any other back doors.22:46
twitterthis one hides in the fine print and the usual "you need a plugin to do this"22:46
oiaohmExactly what else is in the plugin twitter22:46
twitterthey are obvious frauds, ohm.22:46
oiaohmI know they are frauds22:46
oiaohmBut are they are bot net master as well.22:46
twitterso there's no telling what kind of malware they push22:47
oiaohmReally the total mix of malware will give us a better clue who they are.22:47
twitterjust like there's no telling what Microsoft sends back to themselves via Vista and Windows 7 encrypted communications22:48
twitterIt's someone who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote Bing.  They might also be a bot herder but that is irrelevant and the Bing issue is proved.22:49
<-- abeNd-org has left this server (Quit: Leaving.).22:49
twitterMicrosoft disowned them, as they do all of their scape goats.22:49
DaemonFCCompuserve was an AOL-type service, walled garden22:50
DaemonFCthey both added internet access later22:50
DaemonFCthen AOL bought Compuserve22:50
DaemonFCfor a while, the Compuserve browser was based on Gecko, not IE/Trident22:50
DaemonFCI think it went back to IE though22:50
DaemonFCthere was a beta version of AOL that used Gecko22:51
oiaohmAOL netscape22:51
twitterMicrosoft Software, so bad the company has to pay people to use it.22:51
DaemonFCno, the AOL client22:51
DaemonFCthere was a beta you had to be invited to22:51
DaemonFCit used Gecko as the AOL browser's renderer22:51
twitterAOL bought Netscape, it was unnatural for them to not use the browser.22:52
oiaohmWhen AOL bought netscape they did a hybred.22:52
oiaohmGecko trident22:52
DaemonFCthey never really used Netscape much22:52
oiaohmIn the AOL browser and in netscape22:52
oiaohmWhat was basically the same thing.22:52
twitterIt was gone in the blink of an eye, then they fired the developers.22:52
DaemonFCthe Windows version uses IE/Trident and the Mac version uses Webkit22:53
DaemonFCway back when, they used their own rendering engine though22:53
twitterDaemonFC, uses AOL on Mac?  Wow!22:53
MinceRlol22:53
DaemonFCyes, it has Topspeed Technology to make my 56k modem go VROOM22:54
DaemonFCuh huh22:54
DaemonFC:)22:54
MinceRthat can't be good for the modem :>22:54
twitterzzzzoooooommmmmm22:54
--> dtech has joined this channel (5da06baa@gateway/web/freenode/ip.93.160.107.170).22:54
twitterhave fun with the Bing news.  That search engine is not going anywhere soon.22:55
<-- twitter has left this channel.22:55
* DaemonFC throws a Winmodem at Mincer22:55
* MinceR parries it with a BFS22:55
[Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [boycottnovell/@boycottnovell] Another Software Company’s CEO (Named Steve) Expected to Leave http://is.gd/oyxBuS #microsoft #ballmer #xbox #kin22:57
[Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [schestowitz/@schestowitz] Another Software Company’s CEO (Named Steve) Expected to Leave http://is.gd/oyxBuS #microsoft #ballmer #xbox #kin #vista22:57
TechrightsBot-trTitle: Another Software Company’s CEO (Named Steve) Expected to Leave | Techrights .::. Size~: 94.89 KB22:57
oiaohmhttp://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTAwNQ  I guess you have both seen this.22:57
TechrightsBot-trTitle: Another Software Company’s CEO (Named Steve) Expected to Leave | Techrights .::. Size~: 94.89 KB22:57
TechrightsBot-trTitle: [Phoronix] ULatencyD Enters The Linux World .::. Size~: 16.74 KB22:57
MinceRoh, according to "How Does This Work?", it could be independent of m$22:57
MinceRsince it benefits Zugo as well22:58
MinceRvia affiliate commissions22:58
oiaohmMinceR: link22:58
MinceRsame article22:59
MinceR( http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebooks_3rd_biggest _advertiser_is_a_bing_affilia.php )22:59
TechrightsBot-trTitle:  Facebook's 3rd Biggest Advertiser is (Allegedly) a Bing Affiliate Scam (With Updates)  .::. Size~: 74.46 KB22:59
MinceRthere's a sidebar titled "How Does This Work?" on that page23:00


So what do you think? Innocent or damage control?

Recent Techrights' Posts

Saving the Planet With Honesty, Transparency, and Sharing (Not Only of Computer Code)
GAFAM is destroying the only habitat humans and other animals have and it'll only get worse
Disinformation About Election Outcomes Even Before Any Election Outcomes (or Election/Voting!)
seeding doubt about election outcomes
Against Outsourcing of Sites and E-mail
Software Freedom is great, but it is not enough if you let someone else do it 'for you'
Drew DeVault: People Talking About My Attack Site (Against the Founder of GNU/Linux) is "Spam"
"Spam on sr.ht mailing lists"
"Oppose the Fascist"
what the founder of GNU/Linux said
Halloween, All Saints Day & Swiss citizenship
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
How Voting Does Not Work
You cannot vote from an "app"
Links 05/11/2024: Bluesky and Enshittification, Pugad Baboy, and Lots of Disinformation Flooding the Web
Links for the day
[Meme] Sweaty Under the Belly
"OK, my critics are 'spam'"
Microsoft Bribing Canonical (to Stop Competing) and Bribing Users to Shun the Competition
Canonical is worth shunning
[Meme] The 2024 'Info Bros'
And prehistoric googling
Computers Getting Worse (for the User) Over Time
This is like Windows-ism coming to "Linux" through the hardware
[Meme] How NOT to Vote
Another form of (mostly-unspoken-of) election interference
An LLM Inside a 'Search' Engine Means That Companies Tell You What They Want, Not What Web Pages to Visit
The future of 'googling' things might be as unreliable as using Social Control Media as a source of information
Google's Debt Has Increased and 'Cash on Hand' Fell by 22.27% This Past Year
These are the numbers that the corporate media intentionally leaves out
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 04, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, November 04, 2024
There's a Reason Why Techrights is Turning 18 and Tux Machines Will Turn 20.5 Next Month
I started advocating GNU/Linux when I was a teenager
Techrights Has a Long History of Fighting to Expose 'Team Mono' or Microsofters Inside GNOME
Never downplay the malice of Microsoft and its operatives
Gemini Links 05/11/2024: Halloween Over, Intention and Implementation, Bookmark Syncing
Links for the day
Microsoft Lost Nearly Half of Its 'Cash Reserves' This Past Year
Is Microsoft (MSFT) the next Intel (INTC)?
The Year Isn't Over Yet, There Will be More Waves of Microsoft Layoffs
Nowadays Microsoft just tries to conflate/equate its energy waste with "value"
The Corporate Media Blasted Bitcoin for Destroying the Planet and Must Do the Same to Incite the Public Against the 'Great Rigging of Wall Street' (Under the Guise of "AI", the Latest Gold Rush)
"AI" is the next "metaverse" (trailing by a few months)
[Video] Richard Stallman is Back to Halo and Gown (in Peru) With 2+ Hours of a Public Talk
The globetrotting Richard Stallman gave many talks at the end of last month
Going Strong Against the Wind
the abuse serves to emphasise or affirm the importance of what we do
Links 04/11/2024: Squashing More Software Patents and Taiwan at Risk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/11/2024: Typing vs Writing and a Smol (Net) Pub
Links for the day
Links 04/11/2024: LibreOffice Had Adopted PeerTube, "Hey Hi" Hype is a Threat to the Energy Grids (Worse Than Fake-Coins)
Links for the day
[Meme] Social Control Telescreens With Microphone
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Shout-out to Christine From FOSSForce
Who noticed our short story
Not Boycotting Apple (Yet)?
"Apple Forces The Signing Of Applications In MacOS Sequoia 15.1"
statCounter This Month: Android Has Nearly Become Twice as Big as Windows
If it happened, it would be an unprecedented milestone
Why Technical Sites Need Not Make Political Recommendations or Endorsements
Except perhaps when it's for some purely technical role, e.g. FCC chief
[Meme] Apple Freedom
Freedom is... the ability to purchase as many 'i' things as you want
Apple's MacOS Shows Us the Vision of Computing That GAFAM Has for Us (Digital Prisons)
Freedom means "we the people" should be in control, not people being controlled by corporations (contemporary slaveowners)
"Active" as in One URL, One Emoji, and 4 Words in One Week
Diversity community in Fedora
Apple Vision Pro Has Failed, Just Like "Metaverse"
Vision Pro lacks software
Things That Can Improve Election Integrity
the first two relate to "tech"
Rigging Elections is Difficult, Cheating a Little is Not
Avoid social control media, it is the biggest rigger of all
"People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"
On throwing stones in a glass house
Our Stance on Electronic (or Digital) Voting Machines
The simple activity of voting and counting ballots does not require thousands of complex machines with hundreds of millions of transistors and hundreds of millions of lines of code
Microsoft and "Retrospective Re-writing of History..."
in YouTube anyone can make stuff up (as one goes along)
This Coming Week
Go exercise your right to vote
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 03, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, November 03, 2024
Reddit is (Still) Lying and Faking
Don't fall for this phony idea that the above sites are grassroots or edgy; they're not
GNU/Linux Users Are Not Cheaters
The bottom line is, most cheaters use Windows
Links 04/11/2024: FCC, Broadband Industry Spar Over Net Neutrality; Software Patent Squashed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/11/2024: Official MyGemini.Space Announcement
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/11/2024: Election Thoughts, Plagiarism, and LLM Slop
Links for the day
Links 03/11/2024: Deere 'Right to Repair' (RoR) and "Threads Bans Anyone For Mentioning Hitler"
Links for the day
[Video] "El Movimiento del Software Libre y el Sistema Operativo GNU" by Richard M. Stallman
The footage is a bit jittery (taken with a phone apparently, and there's no tripod available), but the sound is OK and the words (in Spanish) are comprehensible
Android at New Highs (47%), Windows at New Lows (24%), Suggests Latest Data From statCounter
So the market share of Android is about double that of Windows
[Video] Richard Stallman's Talk in Spanish (in Peru Last Week)
Alternative URLs too
The Media Focuses on the Wrong Scandal
The real scandal at MIT was Gates
Gemini Links 03/11/2024: Fantasy Life Day and Worship
Links for the day
[Meme] Write Us Drivers and GTFO!
When you realise sanctioning BRICS devs goes against the community
Decommissioning Copper Lines Makes Us Less Safe
We've essentially degraded the robustness or reliability of critical systems
Life of an Addicted Lolicon Who Can Also Code
Personal blog as an open diary
[Meme] Reporting Crime is Not a Crime
Obviously!
Manchester Party for Techrights
If you choose to come, of course we'll cover the cost of the food and treats (but not travel)
Privacy is Not a Crime (in Places Where It is a Crime the Regime is Typically Very Rogue)
Also, criminals lack "privacy rights" to hide their crimes from the public
GNU/Linux "Market Share" in Lebanon More Than Doubled in a Few Months
Maybe it's a reaction to something? Assassination in Haret Hreik was in July.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 02, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, November 02, 2024
Nearly 40 Years Without Security Incidents
People who use Windows have come to sort of "accept" that security incidents are part of life or "normal"
[Meme] The Streisand Effect
Simon says, don't bother trying to suppress facts
Streisand Effect at IBM?
Trying to silence your workers isn't the best approach. It only makes colleagues even more curious.
Microsoft is a Gift That Keeps Giving (Future Stories to Techrights)
Microsoft has been trying to silence me using dirty tricks for nearly 20 years
Elon Musk Has Trashed Twitter for Ideological Reasons (and Propping Up Trump in Exchange for Financial and Political Favours Once in Public Office)
In case you didn't leave Twitter already, consider the fact that Twitter's (or "X"... whatever!) future is uncertain
Wall Street Has Demoted Intel, Seeing There May be No Future to Intel
Intel's loss isn't a loss to us
Free Software Licence Compliance is About Security Too
Linux as de facto proprietary off-the-shelf platform