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Combating SPAM
Everyone who communicates on the internet via email has the same old problem of SPAM and it’s becoming more apparent that the recent unsolicited commercial emails (UCE) laws implemented in the US and Europe are not having an impact. Did you know...
Inexpensive Places to Register Domain Names
About a year ago if you wanted to register a domain name there was only one place to go: "Network Solutions". For $70.00 (for the first two years) you could register a name of your very own. Today that's no longer the case. Now that the Internic no...
Keyword Ownership: What It Is And Where It's Headed
Have you ever got one of those silly emails that offers to let you own a keyword? Silly question. How many such emails do you get every day?
A number of such services regularly email me offering keyword ownership of premium keywords for...
Reachout Throughout – RSS
RSS has been around for more than a decade but until recently “Rss Technology” started penetrating its roots deep inside the soil of the so-called E-world. Using this standard, web publishers provide updates, such as the latest news headlines,...
Understanding Google AdWords
Google AdWords
Unlike many search engines Google, to its credit, clearly denotes search listings that are paid placement. In fact, Google AdWords appear in a separate section down the left side of the screen.
Google AdWords provide an...
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Real Life Internet Evil: Brilliant Digital Entertainment
Our purpose with this series is to use real life examples of deception, fraud and other evil to show how you can better protect yourself. The examples cited in these articles are intended to demonstrate best practices and recommendations.
What would you think about allowing someone to have unlimited access to your computer system without your knowledge or permission? Now, how do you feel about letting that person rent out your CPU, spare disk space and extra memory? Do you like the idea of these strangers downloading programs, data and lord knows what else to your machine and using your bandwidth?
A company called Brilliant Digital Entertainment has been quietly preparing to do just this. They have been distributing their "free" 3D advertising technology since last fall, and along with that software they have quietly been installing file-swapping software called Kazaa.
Brilliant Digital Entertainment has stated as a part of their SEC filing that they will soon be turning on a vast, multi-million machine P2P (point-to-point) network. This network consists of the machines belonging to those people who have downloaded and installed their software. The network is known as Altnet.
What does Brilliant want to do with this vast network? They have some very grand plans, but one major task is using these personally owned computers to store and serve ads (banners and other things). Their logic is described in an excerpt from their SEC filing:
"An example of Network Services is ad serving. When a user opens a new Web page, and the banner ad which appears on that page is delivered by a third party ad serving company, such as DoubleClick, the third party ad serving company incurs infrastructure, management, bandwidth and processing costs for every single banner ad which gets served. Often times, the same ad gets "served" millions of times each month. Using Altnet's proposed solutions, all of those ads could be delivered to the users via the Altnet network, thereby saving costs for third party ad serving companies."
Brilliant does have some vague plans in place to compensate the people involved in the network, at least some of them. Here's what their SEC filing says about that:
"To maximize the efficiency of the Altnet network, selected users with higher than average processing power, significant free space on their hard drives and broadband connectivity to the Internet, will first be engaged by Altnet to become main hubs on the network. We refer to each of these hubs as a qualified PC, or QPC. We intend to enter into an end user agreement with the owner of each QPC pursuant to which we will
compensate the owner for access to and use of their computers while logged onto the Internet. We have yet to finalize the terms of compensation, however we anticipate it will be a combination of non-cash components, which may include gift certificates, products and/or access to video content, and we expect to initiate this process some time in Q2 2002."
According to other news reports, the end user will have the option to opt-out from this grand plan. The opt-out method (as well as the compensation for those who opt-in) is unspecified at this time, but will most likely be insignificant.
The SEC filing is a very interesting document, and goes on to explain in exhilarating terms the benefits and uses of this network. It's very clear that Brilliant see's lots of dollar signs in this concept.
Now for the big question: what is the benefit to the end user? Absolutely nothing. In fact, the end user's computer gets used to serve advertisements and perform other tasks as determined by Brilliant.
The disadvantages of this scheme are many:
Your computer gets used by others - Do you really want unknown, unnamed third parties to have direct access to your hard drive, memory and CPU power as well as your bandwidth? Do you want to trust this company, who covertly installed this software (yes, there is a clause in the Terms and Conditions, but it's pretty small and in legalize) throughout the world?
There is a risk of contamination - In theory, viruses and other dangers could be loaded onto your system. This is just another way for hackers and others to gain access and do whatever they want.
Your own documents could be at risk - Who knows what this software allows the vendor to do? Perhaps they are looking over your hard drive...
Automatic updates could damage your system - Ever installed something on your computer which caused it to become unusable or damaged? Well, I'd bet this software will have (or already has) the capability to update itself with new versions. Do you want to take the risk?
How do they protect your privacy? - Do you think this company has any real concern for your privacy? These guys want to make money.
I could go on and on about this concept and software. My advice is simple and straightforward - delete it or don't install it. This is a stupid idea and it deserves to be buried with the other bad internet concepts.
About the Author
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets at http://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to read over 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.
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Tucows Downloads - Download Freeware and Shareware Software |
Download freeware, shareware, and demos. Maintains over 45000 software titles that are tested, rated, reviewed and ready to download. |
www.tucows.com |
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Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com |
Download shareware, freeware and Demo software for PC, Mac, Linux, and Handhelds categorized into categories, plus software reviews. |
www.download.com |
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Computer software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
This includes application software such as a word processor, which enables a ... Application software is often purchased separately from computer hardware. ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Shareware.com - Search for shareware programs and free software ... |
Search for shareware programs from more than a dozen downloadable software directories. |
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Jumbo: Free & Shareware MP3 files, Games, Screen Savers & Computer ... |
Source of free and shareware computer programs and utilities for PC and Mac. Evaluate software and read product reviews. Download games and screen savers. |
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Computer Software in the Yahoo! Directory |
Browse categories featuring sites devoted to computer software, including shareware and freeware download sites, operating systems, desktop customization, ... |
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IEEE Software |
IEEE Computer Society's magazine covering all aspects of software, including software engineering. |
www.computer.org |
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Free Downloads on ZDNet | Shareware, Trialware, Evaluation Software |
ZDNet's Software Directory is the Web's largest library of software downloads. Covering software for Windows, Mac, and Mobile systems, ZDNet's Software ... |
downloads.zdnet.com |
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FSF - The Free Software Foundation |
Free software is a matter of liberty not price. Think of "free" as in "free speech". |
www.fsf.org |
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Apple - Software |
Software products for your digital life. ... The perfect addition for professional review. QuickTime Broadcaster. Encoding software for live events. ... |
www.apple.com |
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Open Directory - Computers: Software |
In Partnership with AOL Search. about dmoz | report abuse/spam | help. the entire directory, only in Computers/Software. Top: Computers: Software (38471) ... |
dmoz.org |
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freshmeat.net: Welcome to freshmeat.net |
About: The Web browser is probably the most frequently used software today, ... Web professionals can use the software for functional testing and regression ... |
freshmeat.net |
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Software - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) |
Listing of the GNU software packages. |
www.gnu.org |
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Sun Software |
Get enterprise-class software--Solaris 10 OS, the Java Enterprise System, ... Sun Java StorageTek Software reduces cost and complexity with a single, ... |
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Internet Real Estate.com -- owns and operates a portfolio of the ... |
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www.internetrealestate.com |
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Joel on Software |
A weblog by Joel Spolsky, a programmer working in New York City, about software and software companies. |
www.joelonsoftware.com |
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Amazon.com Software: Computer & video games, business, accounting ... |
Online shopping for computer & video games, business & office productivity software, software from Microsoft, Apple, Adobe & more; accounting, antivirus, ... |
www.amazon.com |
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IBM Software - Home Page |
IBM home page for all of its software products, including Lotus and Tivoli, with keyword search, category browse and AZ product names. |
www.ibm.com |
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Opera web browser: Homepage |
Copyright © 2006 Opera Software ASA. All rights reserved. Skip navigation. Opera Software ... Copyright Opera Software ASA . All rights reserved. ... |
www.opera.com |
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Google Directory - Computers > Software |
Search only in Software Search the Web ... Software Categorized by Letter: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ... |
www.google.com |
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