Is It Really A Scam?
EZula Inc relies on the thoughtless gullibility of people who
think they are being clever by spreading the word about Kazaa.
These people neither know, nor probably care, what else is in
the package or what damage it might do.
Most scams hook people in and then exploit them mercilessly,
especially as promoters of the scam, and this one is no different.
eZula cares not a whit for the victims, who include the plugin
users as well as website owners. They will endlessly stretch
out the pretence of a dialogue about the legality of their application
whilst continuing to insist that ethical considerations are not
relevant. After all, the more debate that ensues, the more publicity
they get and the more users join and spread the word.
TopText is a carefully crafted piece of software being marketed
according to a well thought out plan.
The people behind it will have anticipated the outcry over traffic
stealing and factored it into their scheme. They will have made
a cynical and quite conscious decision, as all scammers do, to
exploit human greed to their own ultimate benefit. They will
have known from the outset that it couldn't last in the long
term but they recognized an opportunity to make a fast buck.
The longer it lasts the more they'll make but eventually, they
know, it will have to be watered down until it's of no consequence.
In the meantime they will have prepared themselves for a wild
ride and will be hoping against hope that they can spin it out
long enough to make a few million.
In short, it's an absolutely classic scam.
Other Threats
There are a number of other programs that operate in one way
or another like TopText. Many have features that have caused
eyebrows to be raised due to ethical questions but none has overstepped
the mark of acceptability quite so blatantly before. One I know
of is similar enough to mention in the same breath except that
it has the crucial difference of being a 'stand-alone' program
in its own right (Surf+ at http://www.filemix.net/).
All applications that furtively install themselves and/or that
can secretly report back to a third party, should be avoided,
I believe, no matter how attractive their initial proposition
might seem. All those that purport to 'improve' other people's
web pages or documents by altering or adding anything should
be shunned altogether. All spam is best treated with contempt
and not considered worthy of a response. And all GRQs (Get Rich
Quick schemes) should be seen for what they are: scams. Most
don't work. Those that do, only work for those at the top of
the pyramid and do so by damaging someone else in some way, usually
by defrauding or stealing from them.
There are also some perfectly respectable companies proffering
browser plugins that publish statistics or comments about websites
or pages on the Internet as they are visited, often without the
permission (or even the knowledge) of the owner. In my opinion
these should also be treated with extreme suspicion, at the very
least. Some are of no real value and merely offer spurious opinions
about what is being viewed (e.g. the degree of 'coolness' or
an award of stars for 'usefulness' etc). However, some can be
very useful; for instance, by offering a way of quickly filling
in forms, or by offering a selection of 'similar' sites to explore.
Prudent net users should always keep in mind the potential for
abuse. Where there is potential there is temptation. When advertisers
are involved in the mix there is also pressure.
The Immediate Threat
Simple-minded people incapable of thinking through the deeper
issues say that TopText is just another marketing ploy and nothing
to get excited about. But this is a form of 'subliminal advertising'
which, by any standards, is reprehensible. Apart from being surreptitious,
which is a threat to everyone's privacy, it actually steals traffic
that website owners have attracted by the virtue of the content
they provide. When their market is stolen from under their noses,
the incentive to generate more traffic disappears. What's the
point when the only beneficiary of such effort is the competition?
Take away traffic and there is no longer any reason to produce
content to display.
Without meaningful content the 'information highway' will quickly
lapse into disuse.
This is a worst-case scenario, of course, but don't be fooled
into thinking it's unlikely. If it's allowed to go unchecked
it has the potential to do untold damage to confidence, the culture
of information sharing and the need for an ethical profit potential
on the Internet. This has already happened on Usenet, where there
are hardly any public newsgroups worth participating in any more.
They are swamped with spam and scams. Luckily, the World Wide
Web came into being just as the rot set in, so the demise of
Usenet was not really noticed. It would be a tragedy though,
if the promise of the World Wide Web were reduced to the same
level of ineffectiveness.
Human greed will assuredly always be with us and this isn't
the last such threat that we'll probably have to deal with. Human
apathy though, is the real problem because it can only be overcome
by individuals who have the determination and strength of will
to sound the alarm loudly and often enough to wake people up.
I hope we can find enough such people to do exactly that. Part
Two of this article, How
To Fight The 'Contextual Advertising' Scam, suggests how
best they might do it.
© Mike Alexander 2001
Some Random Links
All the links to the right are provided with the compliments
of one of the very best traffic networks on the Internet. Learn
how to get your site included and shown on thousands
of other sites across the World Wide Web by clicking on
the TrafficSwarm link at the end of the list. It's free to
join and only takes a matter of minutes!
|
