p2p news / p2pnet: "Wouldn’t it be nice if someone found a network of websites apparently designed to do nothing else but spread Adware around Myspace?" - asks Vitalsecurity.org. "Not only that, but get the innocent end-users themselves to do the job of pushing that Adware for the guy making all the money, without informing them of the Adware’s presence in the first place?"

Meet Zango! residing happily on Rupert Murdoch’s MySpace.com.

"MySpace users are being tricked into installing adware on their PCs through embedded video links that appear in ‘friend’ profiles, according to several blog reports today," says Boing Boing. Clicking on the ‘play’ button in certain videos may mean you’ve just consented to install Zango’s adware:

A serendipitous search by Vitalsecurity.org through the profiles on MySpace for adware companies revealed profiles belonging to Zango. The Zango profiles were crafted to push Zango’s products to visitors.

One profile pushes a toolbar and programs for protecting "kids from predators," noted Vitalsecurity. The other profile launches what looks like a typical video player seen on many MySpace profiles when visited.

For the careless user who does not read the fine print in the popup video player, clicking the big red Play Now button places the Zango Search Assistant and its Toolbar on the user’s system. It’s a twist on the typical enticement to download software the user may not want if he actually knew what was being downloade

"If you saw this article at ITNews, you’ll now know the full story here - and it’s pretty amazing," says a Vitalsecuirty.org addendum.

"It wasn’t just some random guy who created those profiles on Myspace…it was apparently someone from 180 Solutions / CDT / Zango themselves. Quote:

The profiles were a mistake, countered a Zango spokesman Monday. According to Zango’s Steve Stratz, the two spotted by Boyd were created by a company developer based in its Montreal office……Those two test accounts were actually created by one of our developers who was exploring possible opportunities, but he didn’t realise it was Zango business practice not to target MySpace," said Stratz. "He should not have been doing this, and we want to tell MySpace that we didn’t mean to target them." The developer, said Stratz, would soon be deleting the profiles.

The profiles still exist but the movies themselves have gone, says Vitalsecuirty.org, going on:

"I wouldn’t start organising a victory parade as Zango have made it clear they’re not responsible for ‘policing the sharing of their content’, so here we have a major contradiction. On the one hand, they’re saying ‘please Myspace, don’t be mad. We didn’t mean to break your rules and we agree, our movies should not be on Myspace’.

"On the other hand, they’re also saying that ‘we’re not responsible for policing people pushing our software in this way’, so surely the end result will eventually be….more of these moviefiles on Myspace?

"Is it just me, or does this not make sense?"

Also, from the article:

Zango, however, countered that its license agreement "could not be any clearer" and that it would be obvious to anyone that the download was not originating with MySpace.

"Wait," adds Vitalsecuirty.org, "so, we’re supposed to accept that kids will know where this is coming from due to the licence agreement being displayed. But what about the Myspace Terms and Conditions displayed when you sign up? Did this employee not take note of those when he decided to do his little experiement? This seems to be another contradiction to me. People must take note of Terms and Conditions, but only when it suits them?

"No thanks."

Meanwhile, on its site, Zango promises it’s, "committed to creating a content economy built on a foundation of safe and ethical practices".

Digg this.

Also See:
Vitalsecurity.org - Teenagers used to push Zango on Myspace?, July 9, 2006
Boing Boing - Adware to MySpace users: Thanks for the add!, July 10, 2006
ITNews - Zango Adware found on MySpace, July 11, 2006

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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