Gator Baiter

So Slashdot linked to an article about Gator, the much–hated and much-imitated adware/spyware program that many people accidentally install on their Microsoft Windows [WARNING: Strong language] operating systems. I almost exclusively use GNU/Linux, particularly Gentoo, at home and work, so I’m not susceptible to accidental installation of this program… <read more>

I say almost because the kids use Windows to play games, and I use a Windows machine through VNC at work to run some Novell administration utilities.

I work at a bank. The unfortunate fact for Gator is that, due to banking secrecy legislation, having a piece of spyware report what web sites we visit to check on delinquent customers is probably illegal. Thus, I regularly clear it off employee computers — or rather, I did before I installed DansGuardian on our proxy server and blocked all executable downloads. Go me, work is easier now 🙂

Umm, anyway, the discussion about a new study analyzing Gator’s ad-generating trends is quite animated. My favorite comment is this one, entitled “Translation of the Article”, by saintjab:

“Gator is crap. Gator is being sued by many people who think the product is crap. Gator has several competitors who are equally as shady and crappy as Gator. Gator spies on you, reports to an unknown authority about your habits and tendencies, and people still use it. These people are not quick to show themselves because they know they are idiots for using this crap. Then the author proceeds to compare this crap with the success of a legitimate company like Google. How is this a helpful article? It only states the obvious. Gator and its ilk are crap and now there is a crappy article about it all”