A Revolution is the Solution
Rofl PG, you warned and carried out the threat superbly!
I contaced DR directly about this in early May and they tell me that the tiny little fine print under the download button, the one with the link, is the "affirmative acceptance of the EULA" that you crave. I never got any indication that they found anything wrong with the way FasterXP is doing things.
Nothing in the EULA mentions the names Ceres or Aurora, so even if the user tries to retrace their steps it may be difficult to determine who double-crossed them. Direct Revenue goes by so many names it's hard to track them: ABetterInternet, BetterInternet, Ceres, Aurora, ABI Network, and who knows what else.
When I installed FasterXP last week for some testing, it dropped Aurora instead of Ceres. It's done that consistently. Maybe that's because I'm in the US and you're in the UK?
Interesting...I was convinced I managed to infect a test box with Aurora using that site shortly before it went AWOL but never had a chance to confirm. Looks like I'll have to keep trying it...but I can well believe they don't think there's much wrong with that install. More's the pity :
Just to amuse myself i tried to put it on an old 2kpro laptop and it did nothing at all. I'll be mirroring the exe on my site for testing later should it try to hide again.
Nice 
Yeah, one of my users got this garbage on his PC too. After running a couple spyware removal tools - won't mention names there, since they couldn't remove it..
Of course, Taskmanager, Explorer, and Regedit make quick work of it. It's just annoying to mess with that garbage. No way I'd trust a company like that with a credit card number, or anything else for that matter.
The FasterXP EULA contains two interesting paragraphs, the first allowing anyone to redistribute the FasterXP software as long as it is unmodified. How will Optisoft, My Search, BetterInternet and Top Rebates enforce that new distributors link to or show the EULA?
The second paragraph talks about file-sharing capabilities in the FasterXP software: "FasterXP OR Optisoft DO NOT OWN OR CONTROL ANY FILE SHARED USING THIS SOFTWARE. FasterXP IS ONLY THE SOFTWARE THAT ALLOWS YOU TO CONNECT TO OTHER USERS..".
More info:
http://www.kephyr.com/spywaresca...erxp-2005-06-
08
Thanks Roger, some interesting info there :D
My name's Kent Roggemann, I'm a computer tech with Computer Connection in Escanaba, MI. My question is, what can be done about all of this? It seems that with all this evidence of manipulation and dishonesty there should be some pretty easy legal cases involved here. And yet I've only heard of one.
Any ideas? I'm more than willing to help, I've dealt with this shit a lot lately.
Kent R.
Hi!
I'm from Mexico....and IM SICK of this stupid spyware.
Even if im from another country, can i take legal action?
I mean, i never asked for this stuff, and i never was warn about it in anyway....
:/
Here's some publicly available info on their CEO.
Home address and tel # of CEO
Jean-Philippe Maheu
309 W 104th St
New York, NY 10025-4135
(212) 666-1165
He also is a professor at Columbia
CEO, J.P. Maheu
Office: 310I Uris
Phone: 212-854-7903
Fax: 212-854-7900
E-mail: jm2380@columbia.edu
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