Even if you exercise common sense, the bad boys are setting traps. Here are some examples.
"How bad is this problem? How much junk can get installed on a user's PC by merely visiting a single site? I set out to see for myself -- by visiting a single web page taking advantage of a security hole (in an ordinary fresh copy of Windows XP), and by recording what programs that site caused to be installed on my PC. In the course of my testing, my test PC was brought to a virtual stand-still -- with at least 16 distinct programs installed. I was not shown licenses or other installation prompts for any of these programs, and I certainly didn't consent to their installation on my PC." from http://www.benedelman.org/news/111804-1.html
I never liked the look of AOL. "America Online began offering games along with the latest version of its instant messenger, and now some customers are worried that the company is playing with them, too. People who use AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) have started complaining on AOL message boards and publications such as BroadbandReports.com after software bundled with AIM 5.5 began showing up in "spyware" scans. The popular chat application includes games from WildTangent, which has a tool that reports back to the company every time someone uses its products." from http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39148016,00.htm
Who can you trust? "Yahoo's new browser toolbar is advertised to clean out adware and spyware from the user's PC and from the sound of it is a good tool to rely on. Not so, says eWeek, whose Matt Hicks notices that Yahoo excludes by default two popular adware/spyware applications - Claria (ex-Gator) and WhenU.com - Claria has commercial bonding with Yahoo! Inc." from http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?...p;tid=158&tid=111&tid=17
The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? ~Jeremy Bentham
