Verisign's SiteFinder finds privacy hullabaloo

[JMJ]

Privacy advocates have joined the chorus of critics of Verisign's "SiteFinder," which on Monday began directing mistyped dot-com and dot-net e-mail and Web addresses to a pay-for-play search site operated by the company, writes SecurityFocus' Deborah Ratcliff.

On Wednesday, Boston-based Internet security and privacy consultant Richard Smith found buried in the SiteFinder page a so-called "Web bug," an invisible image file served up by Overture.com, a Pasadena, Calif.-based advertising company that brands itself as a search engine. The bug delivers a cookie that doesn't expire for five years.

http://theregister.com/content/6/32926.html

 

[SlashRoot.Com]

Nice post, JoltHost.

Me thinks the Verislime folks are doing this for nothing but their greed.

They are not advertising that there is an Overture link that tracks these pages served up to typos...

It's interesting to read their spin on this whole typo-squatting:

http://news.com.com/2100-1024-5078657.html?tag=nl

excerpt:

O'Shaughnessy said the service has been embraced by end users. "We've seen nothing but very positive results from the Internet community," he said. "Usage is extraordinary. Both individual users and enterprises are giving very positive feedback."

I don't' know what planet this guys is form. Me thinks he is way out of touch with the reality.