Google: cloaking and spyware

[Brian Turner]

This is interesting:

At Google, we put a lot of thought into improving your online experience. We're alarmed by what we believe is a growing disregard for your rights as computer users. We've seen increasing reports of spyware and other applications that trick you in order to serve you pop-up ads, connect your modem to expensive toll numbers or hijack your browser from the site you're trying to visit.

We do not see this trend reversing itself. In fact, it is getting worse. As a provider of services and monetization for users, advertisers and publishers on the Internet, we feel a responsibility to be proactive about these issues. So, we have decided to take action. As a first step, we have outlined a set of principles we believe our industry should adopt and we're sharing them to foster discussion and help solve the problem. We intend to follow these guidelines ourselves with the applications we distribute (such as the Google Toolbar and Google Deskbar). And because we strongly believe these principles are good for the industry and users worldwide, we will encourage our current and prospective business partners to adopt them as well.

These guidelines are, by necessity, broad. Software creation and distribution are complex and the technology is continuously evolving. As a result, some useful applications may not comply entirely with these principles and some deceptive practices may not be addressed here. This document is only a start, and focuses on the areas of Internet software and advertising. These guidelines need to be continually updated to keep pace with ever-changing technology.

We look forward to an ongoing discussion with you and with our partners. We would like to hear your suggestions to improve and update these principles. Please send your comments to software-principles@google.com.


From: http://www.google.com/corporate/soft...rinciples.html



Also:


Internet News


Google, Yahoo Pull WhenU From Index

Date: 5/19/2004


(Article Central) Leading search engines Yahoo and Google have pulled all WhenU search results from their search indexes, alleging that the spyware company has used "cloaking" to manipulate search results and drive traffic to its Web site and other bogus sites with favorable impressions of WhenU. "Cloaking" involves the display of modified Web pages to search engine spiders and unmodified pages to users. The altered pages are optimized to boost the search rankings of the Web site. Most search engines frown upon the practice and Google reserves the right to permanently ban sites for engaging in cloaking in an attempt to distort their search engine rankings.

The scheme was reported to Google and Yahoo by Ben Edelman, a spyware specialist. Edelman discovered that WhenU had generated 13 Web sites designed to re-direct traffic to news and information that shed positive light on the much-maligned company.

WhenU and its spyware tactics are currently the target of several lawsuits. It has blamed the cloaking on an outsourced search engine optimization firm.


http://www.thewhir.com/find/articlec...did=877&page=1




Interesting stuff, actually - and probably a very good idea to put the brakes on it.