|
|
|
|
Home / Society / Issues / Business / Allegedly Unethical Firms / Ezula
|
|
|
|
Web Sites
|
- Advanced HTML For Beginners: Yellow links can destroy your day and your income - Forum thread on the eZula "scumware" and possible responses.
www.ahfb2000.com/webmaster_help_desk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=301
- Applelinks: Another New Technology to Deep-Six - Editorial suggesting "loud, pointed, organized protests" against this attempt to "take over your web pages."
www.applelinks.com/articles/2001/08/20010803142336.shtml
- Associate Programs Newsletter: How to stop Scumware from defacing your website - Explains how Top Text and similar programs can negatively affect income streams, particularly for sites that use affilate programs.
www.associateprograms.com/search/newsletter173.shtml
- Builder Buzz: eZula's evil links - Article by c|net Builder.com's Sr. Editor "Hurricane" Wayne Cunningham, who describes eZula's browser plug-in as a "Trojan horse."
buzz.builder.com/cgi-bin/WebX?13@100.d7ENabmvcMa^6@.eeb2820/0
- Builder Buzz: Printing news, whether fit or not - Critical editorial examining the reporting in a San Francisco Chronicle article about eZula.
buzz.builder.com/cgi-bin/WebX?13@@.eeb2d1e
- CNET Tech News - Kazaa plays on despite threat of fines - Nearly a week after a court-ordered deadline, the operator of the popular file-swapping network is still negotiating to keep its service alive. KaZaa is a primary distributor of Top Text.
news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8245314.html?tag=dd.ne.dtx.nl-sty.0
- CNET: Dutch court cracks down on Kazaa - The court orders the file-swapping software maker to prevent people using its product from engaging in copyright infringement or face thousands of dollars a day in fines. KaZaA distribute the Ezula Top Text program with its software.
news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8022666.html
- ContentBiz.com: New Free Tool for Web Publishers Fighting "Scumware" Programs that Poach Ad Revenues - Information on the battle against Top Text and similar programs. Discusses a detection script to notify users who have the programs installed.
www.contentbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=1807
- COTSE: You may have heard of Microsoft Smart Tags, but have you seen Ezula and Surf+? - A webmaster's editorial accusing TopText and Intelsoft International's Surf+ of theft, false advertising, and deceptive self-promotion.
www.cotse.com/8202001.html
- c|net Tech News: Chorus of Gator critics grows - Article on Interactive Advertising Bureau's possible regulatory complaint over Gator's ad insertion. Also discusses Top Text and the effort against it.
news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6986199.html
- c|net Tech News: Peer-to-peer exchanges court advertisers - Article describing the financial arrangements, briefly mentioning the controversy.
news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6759036.html
- Ethics in Advertising - Editorial asking "How far should advertising go?" Examines eZula's browser plug in as a specific example of unethical advertising.
www.rubak.com/article.cfm?ID=13
- eZula and Surf+ Script Killer - Provides a script killer for the eZula software. Also works on Surf+.
www.searchking.com/ezulakiller
- Ezula and TopText - The issue of advertising vs intellectual property rights - Explanation of how TopText alters web sites and possible avenues for fighting this advertising practice.
www.cyberfieds.com/news.html
- eZulafacts.com - Suggests possible legal remedies for fighting keyword advertising insertion.
www.ezulafacts.com
- Foistware - Information to help users and webmasters identify when Top Text is installed.
www.cexx.org/toptext.htm
- geek/talk Forums at GeekVillage - Discussion about the eZula TopText defacement in the context of copyright violation.
www.geekvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12175
- Get High (Traffic) Forums: Gazette article about stolen traffic through PPC - An open discussion describing the results when several webmasters tried the "opt-out" procedure.
gethighforums.com/Forum10/HTML/001386.html
- ihelpyouservices forum: I am Furious - Search engine marketers discuss the implications of the eZula plugin and the similar Surf+ program.
www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/t415/s.html
- Internet Thieves at Work - Warning about Top Text from a businessman's and web site owner's perspective.
www.taxes.com/Internet_Hijackers.htm
- KaZaa Ignores Court Order to Shut Down - KaZaA, a primary distributor of Top Text, has failed to comply with an Amsterdam court order to stop its file sharing services.
www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2001/kazaa.html
- LinkOFF - Information for contending with Top Text and related contextual marketing programs; primarily intended for website owners.
linkOFF.com
- MSNBC: Keyword software raises ire - Report on "guerilla marketing" tactics and the effort against it. Provides screen shots of link insertion on both MSNBC and on Google's search results.
www.msnbc.com/news/618966.asp?cp1=1
- Mystery links: New Web advertising tool gets results, draws criticism - San Francisco Chronicle: mentions concerns about the ethics of covert advertising, and commercial firms outraged by links to competitors' sites.
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/07/30/BU231339.DTL
- PCWorld: Latest Online Ad Gimmick: Hyperlinks - "Advertisers try aggressive (and annoying) hyperlink technology to make the Web pay."
www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,57064,00.asp
- PetitionOnline: eZula - Petition protesting insertion of advertising links on web pages.
www.PetitionOnline.com/toptext
- Planet Doom: The Yellow-Link Virus - Information for webmasters and surfers about the eZula TopText browser plugin and a similar program called Surf+.
planetdoomportal.searchking.com/website-theftware
- Protect Your Web Site from Unwanted Linking - Explains how the eZula system works and provides resources that allow users to remove it and to help web site owners protect their sites from unwanted advertising insertion.
www.unwantedlinks.com
- ReveNews: CJ Profits from Ezula's Hijacked Links - Article on Commission Junction's apparent blessing of Ezula's links, followed by a lively discussion.
www.revenews.com/archives/00000138.html
- Salon.com: The parasite economy - Examines the spread of both "spyware" and programs that add commercial links to websites. KaZaa's distribution of eZula is heavily featured.
www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/08/02/parasite_capital/index.html
- San Diego Daily Transcript: 'Poachware' Routes Computer Users To Alternate Web Sites - Article about anti-competitive involuntary hyperlinks being placed by Top Text (aka ContextPro).
www.sddt.com/Search/article.cfm?SourceCode=20010827tba
- Scumware - Resources for webmasters facing traffic-stealing programs including eZula's TopText, Surf+ and Gator.
scumware.com
- Scumware Advisory - Informational warning about the unethical practice of placing commercial links through third party software.
www.lvdi.net/~iceman/1warning.html
- Scumware Stealing Your Traffic and Revenue - Portal News article about the fight against unauthorized ad link insertion.
graphicdesign.searchking.com/aug2001.html
- Search Engine Watch: Forget Smart Tags; TopText Is Doing What You Feared - Editorial decrying stealth download tactics, copyright and other legal violations.
searchenginewatch.com/sereport/01/08-toptext.html
- SgtSearch.com Blacklisted Advertisers - Provides coding web masters can add to their pages to prevent Top Text inserted links.
www.sgtsearch.com/blacklist/ttext.html
- SitePoint Tribune: Internet Highway Robbery - Examines Gator and TopText and their effects on web sites.
sitepoint.com/tribune/tribune161.html
- Slashdot: Don't Eat the Yellow Links - Web owners upset by changed content; describes an "opt-out" procedure.
slashdot.org/features/01/07/31/2015216.shtml
- StopScum - Resources, news and forums for the fight against contextual advertising.
www.stopscum.com
- The Register: KaZaA ordered to cease infringing copyright - Article on Dutch court ruling giving KaZaA two weeks to cease infringing the copyrights of musical recording artists. Ezula is distributed with the KaZaA program.
www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/23107.html
- Thief Ad Buyers - Maintains a list of companies observed to be advertising through eZula, HotText, or TopText.
www.ipagedir.com/ezula
- ThiefWare.com - Information and resources primarily for webmasters who wish to fight unethical contextual advertising.
www.thiefware.com
- TrafficG Yellow and Green Link Killer - Provides script to disable Top Text and Surf+. Documents source code alterations made by these programs.
www.trafficg.com/scumware/index.htm
- WebHostingTalk Forums: KaZaa is Hijacking Traffic! - Webmasters and surfers, mostly disapproving of the embedded advertising links.
www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=18027&perpage=20&pagenumber=1
- Whirly Wiry Web: Fighting Ezula - Discussion of web design to detect and defeat contextual advertising, including recognizing the HotText and TopText plugins.
www.whirlywiryweb.com/q/ezula.asp
- You got the yellow linking Virus? - Gives information on how to remove/unistall TopText, and links to other more detailed resources.
www.funs.co.uk/virus
- ZDNet: Can networks harness P2P for profit? - Article regarding the controversy of peer to peer file sharing programs distributing programs like eZula's Top Text.
www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5095127,00.html
- ZDNet: Smart tabby tags TopText hyperlinks - Discusses the controversy with emphasis on the threat of being able to place ads on competitor's web sites.
www.zdnet.com/eweek/stories/general/0,11011,2807753,00.html
|
|
|
|
|