01.20.11

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

Posted in Deception, Microsoft, Search at 12:40 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

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:

DaemonFC	I guess they got sick of all the “Why doesn’t Last.FM work?” posts	22:32
oiaohm	Don’t worry its normally only temp. MinceR	22:33
oiaohm	First stage create more jobs than what is required.	22:34
oiaohm	Second stage restruct the departments because they are too expensive.	22:34
oiaohm	Third stage sacked too many todo the jobs.	22:34
oiaohm	then return to first stage.	22:35
oiaohm	This 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
oiaohm	Computserv anyone.	22:36
MinceR	CompuServe isn’t internet, afaik	22:37
oiaohm	It 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
twitter	Read 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.php	22:41
TechrightsBot-tr	Title: Facebook’s 3rd Biggest Advertiser is (Allegedly) a Bing Affiliate Scam (With Updates) .::. Size~: 74.46 KB	22:41
twitter	That and the forced default on cell phones, new computers inflicted with Windows, etc.	22:42
oiaohm	twitter: Problem is I cannot see who is behind that.	22:43
MinceR	duh	22:44
MinceR	it’s m$	22:44
twitter	you really can’t tell where hundreds of thousands of dollars for a make_my_baby.com scam comes from?	22:44
MinceR	they’re still struggling to get people to use bìng	22:44
twitter	no one would put up that kind of money on their own.	22:44
twitter	It had to come from Microsoft.	22:44
MinceR	they used to pay people to make them use whatever bìng happened to be called at the time	22:45
MinceR	this is a different approach to the same goal	22:45
oiaohm	I have not looked close enough at that.	22:45
oiaohm	to check if the 3rd biggest has hidden any other back doors.	22:46
twitter	this one hides in the fine print and the usual “you need a plugin to do this”	22:46
oiaohm	Exactly what else is in the plugin twitter	22:46
twitter	they are obvious frauds, ohm.	22:46
oiaohm	I know they are frauds	22:46
oiaohm	But are they are bot net master as well.	22:46
twitter	so there’s no telling what kind of malware they push	22:47
oiaohm	Really the total mix of malware will give us a better clue who they are.	22:47
twitter	just like there’s no telling what Microsoft sends back to themselves via Vista and Windows 7 encrypted communications	22:48
twitter	It’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
twitter	Microsoft disowned them, as they do all of their scape goats.	22:49
DaemonFC	Compuserve was an AOL-type service, walled garden	22:50
DaemonFC	they both added internet access later	22:50
DaemonFC	then AOL bought Compuserve	22:50
DaemonFC	for a while, the Compuserve browser was based on Gecko, not IE/Trident	22:50
DaemonFC	I think it went back to IE though	22:50
DaemonFC	there was a beta version of AOL that used Gecko	22:51
oiaohm	AOL netscape	22:51
twitter	Microsoft Software, so bad the company has to pay people to use it.	22:51
DaemonFC	no, the AOL client	22:51
DaemonFC	there was a beta you had to be invited to	22:51
DaemonFC	it used Gecko as the AOL browser’s renderer	22:51
twitter	AOL bought Netscape, it was unnatural for them to not use the browser.	22:52
oiaohm	When AOL bought netscape they did a hybred.	22:52
oiaohm	Gecko trident	22:52
DaemonFC	they never really used Netscape much	22:52
oiaohm	In the AOL browser and in netscape	22:52
oiaohm	What was basically the same thing.	22:52
twitter	It was gone in the blink of an eye, then they fired the developers.	22:52
DaemonFC	the Windows version uses IE/Trident and the Mac version uses Webkit	22:53
DaemonFC	way back when, they used their own rendering engine though	22:53
twitter	DaemonFC, uses AOL on Mac? Wow!	22:53
MinceR	lol	22:53
DaemonFC	yes, it has Topspeed Technology to make my 56k modem go VROOM	22:54
DaemonFC	uh huh	22:54
DaemonFC		22:54
MinceR	that can’t be good for the modem :>	22:54
twitter	zzzzoooooommmmmm	22:54
–> dtech has joined this channel (5da06baa@gateway/web/freenode/ip.93.160.107.170).		22:54
twitter	have 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 Mincer		22:55
* MinceR parries it with a BFS		22:55
[Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [boycottnovell/@boycottnovell] Another Software Company’s CEO (Named Steve) Expected to Leave http://is.gd/oyxBuS #microsoft #ballmer #xbox #kin		22:57
[Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [schestowitz/@schestowitz] Another Software Company’s CEO (Named Steve) Expected to Leave http://is.gd/oyxBuS #microsoft #ballmer #xbox #kin #vista		22:57
TechrightsBot-tr	Title: Another Software Company’s CEO (Named Steve) Expected to Leave \| Techrights .::. Size~: 94.89 KB	22:57
oiaohm	http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTAwNQ I guess you have both seen this.	22:57
TechrightsBot-tr	Title: Another Software Company’s CEO (Named Steve) Expected to Leave \| Techrights .::. Size~: 94.89 KB	22:57
TechrightsBot-tr	Title: [Phoronix] ULatencyD Enters The Linux World .::. Size~: 16.74 KB	22:57
MinceR	oh, according to “How Does This Work?”, it could be independent of m$	22:57
MinceR	since it benefits Zugo as well	22:58
MinceR	via affiliate commissions	22:58
oiaohm	MinceR: link	22:58
MinceR	same article	22:59
MinceR	( http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebooks_3rd_biggest _advertiser_is_a_bing_affilia.php )	22:59
TechrightsBot-tr	Title: Facebook’s 3rd Biggest Advertiser is (Allegedly) a Bing Affiliate Scam (With Updates) .::. Size~: 74.46 KB	22:59
MinceR	there’s a sidebar titled “How Does This Work?” on that page	23:00

So what do you think? Innocent or damage control? █

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