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Scumware Update
Jimworld Gazette - Issue #120
©2004 All Rights Reserved
The terrorist attack on Sept 11th threw a monkey wrench into our campaign to rid the Internet of the ScumLords currently trying to steal all of the money that allows content to exist online. It is now time for us to return to that battle, or allow ourselves to be destroyed by ScumWare.
The thousands of you who took up the ScumWare campaign with such passion have been able to literally stop Top Text and Surf+ in their tracks. For all intents and purposes they have ceased being able to retain any advertisers to fund their theft of traffic from legitimate web site operators.
While we must continue to monitor their attempts to find new
advertisers who are unaware of how the traffic is generated, it is
time to move onto the most outrageous of the ScumWare Scumlords:
Gator.
Millions of users have downloaded Gator, or had it installed
automatically when downloading other software, and many use it daily
to remember their passwords for the many sites they visit which
require registration. They also use it to fill out online forms
including e-commerce order forms.
The software is touted as "FREE" but the user pays a much higher, and
hidden price. Gator watches every page that the user visits and when
it sees a banner ad it downloads a different banner ad from the Gator
servers and places it exactly on top of the legitimate banner put
there by the web site being visited. The user is unable to even tell
that the banner has been replaced. The web site is now reduced to
serving up content and having all of its agreements with legitimate
advertisers negated by the unethical advertisers who buy ads from
Gator.
While I am pretty sure that this unethical theft of money from web
site publishers will be proven to be illegal, that answer will
doubtless require years, allowing Gator enough time to grab as much
money as possible and then move on to their next scam.
I used Gator for several years and wrote favorably about it before
they took the step beyond the boundaries of ethical advertising,
becoming so desperate for money they are willing to do anything to
get it. My first concern was that I trusted Gator's claims that my
data never left my desktop computer. That was important because I had
entered my credit card information into Gator so it could fill in
order forms for me.
My second concern was that I can now find no way for their software
to work that doesn't involve a great deal of private information
being sent back and forth to the Gator servers from my desktop
computer. To think that they are not archiving a record of every page
I visit and every action I take online is to fly in the face of the
available evidence. Do I want to trust a company this desperate for
money with a complete record of everything I do online?
I think not.
I've heard their "spin" on privacy invasion, and what an aromatic
load of BS it is.
The ScumWare warriors have found a replacement for Gator and tested
it rigorously, including looking carefully for any communication
between the user's computer and the servers operated by the software
developer. The system passed with flying colors.
The best program to replace Gator is RoboForm. Here are the important
points to know about RoboForm:
- 1. It's free.
- 2. The only time it communicates over the web is when it checks to see if a new release of RoboForm is available.
- 3. RoboForm remembers more usernames/passwords than Gator.
- 4. RoboForm can fill in forms that Gator can only dream of. Any form that is non-standard enough to stump Gator will usually be
filled in easily by RoboForm. You can even define new field names to be handled automatically. Great for submitting to directories.
- 5. You can customize RoboForm's knowledge of form fields to teach it to fill in any form - anywhere.
- 6. RoboForm works with just about any browser.
- 7. RoboForm has very tight security that you can control to keep your data safe.
- 8. RoboForm does not do any advertising on your desktop computer. It is simply missing from their business model.
- 9. They do have a business model. They offer their RoboForm Pro version, which has some advanced features, for $29.95.
- 10. RoboForm includes a program to liberate all of your data from Gator and install it cleanly and safely into RoboForm where the
Wonderful World Of Gator can't get to it.
RoboForm is a mature product with excellent ongoing development and
bug fixes, good documentation, rich in features beyond anything else
in its category, and as an added bonus it does not spy on you and
blab everything you do to anyone willing to buy the information from
a less scrupulous company.
Do yourself a favor. Do the ScumWare movement a favor. Get this
program and start using it.
If you have never used a Gator-like program, or Gator itself, you
will love what RoboForm will do for you. It's perfectly safe so there
is no reason for you to keep filling out forms by hand.
If you are currently using Gator, get rid of it as soon as you get
RoboForm installed. Make sure you get rid of Gator and the
Offer-Companion, which is the invasive spy program.
RoboForm has so many things going for it, you will want it for its
own sake, but it also helps us drive a stake through the gator's
heart. Neither you, nor I will make any money from promoting
RoboForm, so why should we do it? Because it is a great program.
Because it will send a strong message to Gator's advertisers when we
can start showing how popular RoboForm is, proving that advertisers
are damaging their images by dealing in ScumWare.
Use this program but also endorse it to your communities. Get the
word out to your ezine readers and site visitors. This is a great way
to re-enter the ScumWare battle. I'll be adding some new anti-Gator
banners to the ScumWare web site to help you spread the word.
If you can spare thirty bucks, buy the Pro version so the developer
is encouraged to continue his development and support efforts.
http://scumware.com
JIMWORLD GAZETTE - Issue #120
The Internet's largest e-zine about Internet promotion and marketing. Over 250,000 subscribers worldwide.
http://www.jimworld.com/gazette/
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