Re: Go!Zilla, possible trojan

[cls () AUREATE COM (Christopher Seawood)]

On Thu, 22 Apr 1999, William F Harris wrote:

> GossiTheDog wrote:
> > Anybody want to pull Go!Zilla apart or run a network sniffer and see
> > what it's doing?
>
> AFAIK, this is Go!Zilla downloading the adverts to place as banners at the
> top of the screen (in the unregistered version only)...

This is correct.  Go!Zilla is part of the Aureate Adsoftware Network
which distributes adware programs.  If I'm not mistaken, Go!Zilla informs
the user that the program will be downloading ads when Go!Zilla is
installed.  Adware programs will send back to the server information such
as which ads were clicked on, how long the ads were displayed, how long
the window was active, etc as well as download a new ad to be displayed.
As Will pointed out, there are registered versions of some adware programs
that do not have the ad banners.

(Shameless plug)
Basically, adware is a twist on shareware.  Instead of crippling the
product with a timeout or missing features, the users can download a fully
enabled version that is equipped with ad banners.  This way both the
software developers and the users win.

--
Regards,
Christopher
That Linux Guy,
Aureate Media Corporation