2008-09-01
Abstract
Disgruntled website owners call SiteAdvisor labelling into question.
Copyright © 2008 Virus Bulletin
McAfee is being sued over its popular SiteAdvisor system, which rates web domains for security and privacy risks and is implemented in search results produced by Yahoo!. The security firm is being sued by a website its SiteAdvisor has labelled with the ‘red-for-danger’ mark.
The people behind 7search.com claim their site is clean and have taken their grievances to a court in Illinois, demanding damages and enforced retraction of the alleged slur. However, wording on the SiteAdvisor page makes it clear that the label is based on user reports, and makes no direct accusations against the site. Numerous reporters have pointed out links between 7search and previous, highly dubious ventures, including toolbars which claimed to speed up browsing but also gathered information on surfing habits. The current 7search offering has been accused of hiding sponsored links amongst genuine search results.
Some commentators have argued that the case threatens the ability of security firms to properly protect their customers, while others think little of the suit’s chances. Like most security products, SiteAdvisor has its share of false positive incidents, and VB has heard from several firms who have felt their own businesses threatened after red warning links from SiteAdvisor significantly reduced traffic to their websites.
One website owner, Julian Moss of Tech-Pro.Net, spent over a week watching his traffic dry up after a file linked to from his site (a product produced by PC Tools, recently acquired by McAfee’s arch-rival Symantec) produced a false alarm. He made little progress with the SiteAdvisor complaints procedure: ‘Only a strong threat of legal action appeared to spur McAfee into action to investigate our complaint, confirm the file was harmless and remove our site from the blacklist,’ he said. ‘Even then, it was several more weeks before sites that received a red alert because they linked to ours were cleared.’
It will be interesting to see whether in this latest case, with what looks like a little more justification on its side, McAfee will stand up to the legal challenge.
