Aluria/WhenU Troubled Past and Whitewashing History
I realize this may not be a bug report in the classic instance, but I do
feel the community needs to be advised of what is going on with Aluria and
their apparent WhenU delisting coverup. We're all supposed to be in this
security thing together, but the recent actions on Aluria's part leaves
much to be desired. Information and links are provided so you can
determine for yourself what is really transpiring. One thing is certain,
this cannot be silenced.
The breaking news story on the whitewashing of Aluria certifying WhenU as
spyware safe is here:
http://castlecops.com/article6549.html
At the moment, a discussion with Aluria's Rick Carlson is ensuing here:
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?p=116720#116720
Some take away items that Eric Howes has highlighed (of the Rogue
Application list fame) wrt to Rick Carlson from Aluria:
* your continuing misrepresentations of the historical handling of WhenU by
Aluria
* Aluria's removal of key documents related to the WhenU relationship from its
web site
* your own refusal to squarely confront Robin's responses to you
* your astroturfing of Download.com
This last comment speaks to catching Rick giving a thumbs up to his
product (Aluria's software) at download.com without ever disclosing he's
the product's vendor.
Some of the more recent references:
http://castlecops.com/article-6556-nested-0-0.html
http://castlecops.com/article6552.html
http://castlecops.com/article6550.html
3 pages: http://discuss.pcmag.com/forums/1004295499/ShowPost.aspx
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,15599732
<http://www.digg.com/security/Anti-Spyware_Vendor_Erasing_History_with_Adware_Company>
However, the main discussion is continuing in the SWW thread above.
The point of this is to spread awareness of the issues surrounding
Aluria/Earthlink at the moment, and their stupid decision to certify WhenU
as spyware safe a couple years ago which caused a lot of press and bad
publicity for Aluria.
America Online was partnered with Aluria at the time and made very clear
they did not want any part of that Aluria/WhenU arrangement:
http://castlecops.com/article-5524-nested-0-0.html
At the time Aluria delisted WhenU, 20 questions were put forth in which
they (including Rick) responded:
http://castlecops.com/article5618.html
Enjoy the reading. Unfortunately, the SWW thread Rick seems to be dancing
and skirting the foundational questions at hand wrt the WhenU history
deletion.
--
Paul Laudanski, Microsoft MVP Windows-Security
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