Sunday, January 28th 2007
MySpace chastises ad networks over 'scareware' tactics
MySpace ads have been taking a very interesting turn as of late. Ads for WinAntiVirus Pro and DriveCleaner are taking a new approach to getting people to buy things. Symantec and Sophos have warned that both programs are malicious, which raises questions as to why MySpace allows ads for them in the first place. WinAntiVirus Pro tries to install itself in the background via ActiveX. When it is installed, it claims you have a malware problem and makes you buy the anti-virus program it recommends. DiskCleaner pulls a similar stunt, however it claims there is a problem with your computer before it installs itself and demands you buy the professional version.Upon being alerted to this problem, MySpace left the following comment.
Source:
The Register
Adware is against MySpace's terms of service. These ads are being delivered by ad networks who distribute them to over a thousand sites across the Internet in addition to ours. We work to have these ad networks remove such ads so that they do not appear on our site.
7 Comments on MySpace chastises ad networks over 'scareware' tactics
but some people aren't that smart.