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

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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
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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
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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
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twitterhave fun with the Bing news.  That search engine is not going anywhere soon.22:55
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* 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?

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