Forum Moderators: phranque
I have dealt with spyware, adware, scumware, malware and whatever else you want to call it, in many ways shapes and forms and while there are a few, free, very good cleaners on the market such as Adaware and Spybot S&D, I have found that most out there, while doing some cleaning, end up leaving malicious code of their own on your PC.
I know spyware is bad and i'm not a big fan of it but they do pay really good if you distribute it.
Isn't that like saying...
I know what I'm doing is not right, but they do pay really good if you distribute it.
There are only one or two AdWare/SpyWare programs that I would use. Everything else is mostly junk and is responsible for the downloading of spyware while downloading the program to prevent spyware.
It is definitely a risky business proposition if you don't do your homework on the software/programs you are promoting.
you should sell drugs; you make more money. Sure they're illegal too, in addition to being bad, but the pay is great. Or k-dd-e pron, or....
I am not doing this yet so please dont shoot me yet but i was just asking if anyone has done it. I understand that spyware/adware is bad and we all hate them annoying popups. But me personally working for an antispyware company i can get rid of any spyware i want from my own machine so i'm not worried about getting it on my machine. So any visitor will be asked if they want to install or not. It is their choice!
This will NOT be on any sites that have adsense.
I hope you'll consider the big picture, friend, and think of hundreds or thousands of hapless visitors whose machines you will burden with applications that run constantly, using up CPU and internet bandwidth. Just because they're too trusting or intellectually-challenged to read the fine print, they don't deserve to be victimized.
And what of the code that your site installs: How will you be sure that it won't actually damage your visitors' computers, or be changed at some time in the future so that it does, intentionally or unintentionally? If your site installs software on one of my machines and it does actual damage, and this damage is not clearly described in your 'popup,' you'll be getting some very expensive phone calls from my representatives.
Oh, and then there are those 'block list' nice sites that list sites hosting malware by domain name and IP, so that sysadmins can simply block any and all access to those sites -- it being cheaper to do that than to spend weeks ridding a corporation of a malware infestation. It's far easier to just accept the whole list than to research it, too, so if you later decide to clean up your site(s), it (they) will probably remain listed for months or years, along with any other sites you have registered.
So, it's a violation of your site visitors' trust, it might result in actual damage to their computers, and if the fine print is too fine, then you're liable. You risk getting your sites blocked from large swaths of the 'net, getting kicked out of various PPC and afilliate programs, and then let's add to that that it's just plain wrong to abuse people's trust. If you can sleep at night knowing all that, and knowing that your knowledge and talent could have been much more profitably better applied, then go ahead. Me, I'll be keeping an eye out for your sites to start popping up in the block lists so that I can firewall them from my networks... What a waste of talent. :(
Short answer, it's immoral, and depending on where you live, illegal. Find something else to do.
Jim
And his next page is a "Have you recently been infected with Spyware? Click this link!" with an affiliate link to the company he works for! ;)
Exactly thats a great plan...jk.
Well hey guys i havent done anything yet i was just asking for everyone's opinion. It was just an opportunity that was showed to me but i dont think i'm going to do it.
Seems like you'd have to hope that the sponsor's install stats are correct, hope that they are still in business and ethical enough to pay you when it's time, and hope that if they run into legal hassles that you don't get named as a co-conspirator.