See you later, anti-Gators?

[Aaron73153]

Hopefully I've got this in the right area, becuase this story relates to internet privacy and what coporations can do, plus spyware is a problem on some P2P applicaitons

Here it is..........

In an effort to improve its corporate reputation, adware company Gator has launched a legal offensive to divorce its name from the hated term "spyware"--and so far its strategy is paying off.

In response to a libel lawsuit, an antispyware company has settled with Gator and pulled Web pages critical of the company, its practices and its software. And other spyware foes are getting the message.

"There is this feeling out there that they won the lawsuit, and people are starting to get scared," said one employee of a spyware-removal company, who asked not to be named. "We haven't been sued, but we've heard that other companies are being sued for saying this and that, so we've changed our language" on the company Web site.

Gator maintains that its software differs from spyware in that people are clearly notified before they download it, and in that they do so in exchange for a service, like the peer-to-peer software.

Spyware, the company maintains, is surreptitiously installed and gives the unwitting computer user no benefit.

The story http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5095051.html?tag=nefd_top

I find that last line funny becuase thats what Gator does, I know alot of ppl that get it installed on thier machines becuase of the auto install on IE, where it pops-up saying about installing this ad-on which is the same window used to install needed plug-ins like Flash.

[Sephiroth]

Gator is where the term spyware comes from.

[REDO]

gator is a piece of crap spyware, that bundles itself with a legit package, so you cant do anything about. Stupid company cant sell there crap, so they do this. I get tired of seeing those crappy gator installer popups every 5 seconds.

[Malicious Intent]

Its spyware of the worst kind. Not even a data mining cookie but a full piece of software. The fact that software exists with the sole purpose of removing Gator shows just how nasty the software is.
Gator should be the ones in court - not the anti-spyware companies.

[FutureIverson]

Gator is where the term spyware comes from.

yeah janettt lol!
Ohh i know Seph, gator is the reason no one uses regular imesh or kazaa. Talk about annoying, worst spyware out their.the ads are so irelevant. And Gator always loads itself at start up like a normal program.
It saves itself in Hotkey, and i've find snippets of it without even downloading a p2p program, the little pop up with yes or no, can be tricky.

[Aaron73153]

One of the problems is it pops up in a security warning dialog box, which most people who don't know better will press yes, especially now with all the publicity that blaster has gotten, if thats not deceptive I don't know what is.

I have been intreagued (bored) to search around on thier site.

On paying $30 for the software: "Except for not receiving GAIN ads, all information collected and used by The Gator Corporation is the same regardless of whether you choose to receive pop-up ads from GAIN"

I just can't believe this company is around. IE can natively remember passwods (I use my brain, don't trust MS) and to fill in forms use the google toolbar.

Or Use mozilla or Opera these feature are integrated wonderfully.

[baghdad_steve15]

Ok. Gator, for legal reasons, is no longer spyware. Its
Sp!ware
Sp*ware
Sp_ware
Spieware

First they stole revenue from websites and now they are stealing our freedom of speech. What next, freedom of religion? They will make us pray to the GATOR logo.

[Aaron73153]

Steve, how about Sh!tware?

[baghdad_steve15]

sure, it works for me.

[downloadalot]

Fucking Gator got installed at a computer where I work. I know its something I done - but I swear I never said yes to any pop up asking me to install this shit. I came to the conclusion it came when I installed kazaa lite. I know its not included in the software but probably the mirror I got it from send it to me along with my kazaa. Beware - This shit is everywhere now!

[FutureIverson]

same, i got it unmerrited. W/o Admin. options its hard to remove at school/work.

[AgentV3]

Spyware, adware, it's the same to me. I never get a popup message when it wants to install, it just does it, Spybot S&D finds it every time.

[Brycen257]

Gator sucks!!!!. Gator is not only spyware , but is probably the single largest pusher of spyware (or our new term "shitware"- I Like it )on the internet today. A year or two ago, when I didn't know as much about the perils of downloading programs from the internet, I had this shitware on my computer and its damn hard to completely eliminate once it gets in there. It installed itself in Windows System 32 and Prefetch under several names, and buried itself deep in the Windows Registry. If you like having a huge hole in your PC security and enjoy receiving so many popup ads and redirections to various websites that you are ready to puke, by all means install this piece of garbage that masquerades as a legitimate program. Gator can kiss my ass. Here at least, we still have freedom of speech.

[Omyn]

This isnt about freedom of speech.

Its about the freedom to your right to privacy, selling your information to companies for a huge profit.

I want to know if someone is selling information about my internet activities, their my own business.

Software like this sneaks its way into peoples computers and almost everyone who has it has not even been notified about it, especially if they are not very computer knowledgable.

This is a company that knows all the ins-outs of the legal system then use it to their advantage to avoid being sued, if anyone needs to be sued it needs to be gator.

They steal system resources without your permission, and track every word you ever type in your computer.

And how does this not infringe on peoples right to privacy, I would especially like to know who the idiot was who said that gator was not, on their website they even say that it is.

Not only that but in turn they also install other peoples programs without your concent.

"In return for receiving FREE software (often valued at up to $30), consumers agree to receive targeted promotions/ads from Gator advertisers through the Gator Advertising and Information Network (GAIN)."

Thats a laugh, software valued at 30 dollars, fuck if i was some older person I would pay a kid 30 bucks to remove it for me.

"The Gator Corporation is the leader in online behavioral marketing." -from gator.com

[Lamourlady]

agreed......gator sucks!

[lizardsforall]

Sypware of not, the program chews up an ungoddly amount of cpu and bandwith and it is likely to cause fatal errors on any windows machine. I cannot recall the amount of times, I go to a corporate network, and fix the computer's problems by simply removing programs that Gator makes and several others. (not to metion the my search bars and hotbars).

the only good thing to come out of gator in a corporate environment is that if you have gator installed or any other, you've been to websites or installed programs that are not allowed durring work hours. so on some networks I see, those who have spyware on the machine, go under review (also promotes my job security).