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Before Google's new terms for software AdWords, it was extremely common for scumbags to wrap freeware or OSS in spyware and buy ads for the software's name. Use
by skymt 11y ago
Before Google's new terms for software AdWords, it was extremely common for scumbags to wrap freeware or OSS in spyware and buy ads for the software's name. Users would click what looked like the first result, land on what looked like a legitimate download page, and end up with something ugly like Conduit.
I'm the "computer geek" for some friends and family, so I've fixed up a good number of PCs, and AdWords has been by far the #1 vector for malware. A lot of people in my position just started installing ad blockers on every PC they work on, to save trouble later. Google's new approach has a lot of problems, obviously, but they're not just power-tripping.
- x0x0 11y agoSo instead of punishing the people who eg wrapped vlc in spyware, they decided to screw over good actors? I think the clear difference is the wrong thing was easy for google to do (though unlikely to actually help at all -- nobody reads eula or uninstall directions), and the right thing -- directly targeting the bad actors and booting them from adwords -- would have taken work and money. Yet another reason google is untrustworthy.
- skymt 11y agoThe spyware ads have disappeared for me. Do you still see them? Google's actions were too broad, but they seem to have been effective.