Keeping Them Honest »
Articles here highlight unethical behavior by corporations, companies, websites, or public figures.
Note: Some articles filed under Keeping Them Honest may seem like rants more than unbiased reports. Rest assured that while yes some articles filed under Keeping Them Honest may be rants (I get angry at dishonest or unethical behavior and often end up ranting about it), the articles will always be as factual as possible. Also, please keep in mind that some entities may be featured more often in Keeping Them Honest articles than other entities; this does not mean dotTech is anti-that-company (we are not anti any company), rather it just means that the company is more controversial than others hence it gets more attention.
WARNING: BeeCloud going out of business, download your data now or lose it forever
A few months back BeeCloud gave away free 512 GB of cloud storage to all new users of its service. Being a LiveDrive reseller, at the time I stated:
[...]LiveDrive is a large and popular cloud storage service, so it probably won’t go out business out of the blue. Longevity?
[...]
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Tip: Avoid CNET Download.com’s ad-supported installer by using the Direct Download Link
Last year CNET started bundling an “ad-supported stub installer” with downloads on Download.com. This installer was CNET’s way to bring Ask Toolbar-like crapware bundles to CNET downloads. The installer wasn’t added to all downloads on Download.com but was added to enough downloads for people to take notice and come up [...]
Read More »Sinde Law is Spain’s SOPA
Remember SOPA and PIPA? Well it looks like Spain is getting in on the action, too. Yesterday the Spanish Government passed new legislation – dubbed Sinde Law after former Spanish culture minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde – where copyright and intellectual property right owners can report suspected infringing websites to a newly [...]
What are Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act, and how they will affect you [dotTech Explains]
If you follow technology news regularly you will have, without a doubt, read about SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECT IP Act – Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act). With SOPA and PIPA being thrown around on every bloody website in [...]
Verizon Wireless backs off, drops $2 “convenience” fee
You know that $2 “convenience” fee Verizon Wireless planned to start charging starting January 15, 2012? That fee that literally charged you $2 for paying your bill? Yeah, well, after 24-hours of public outcry – and a passive-aggressive threat by the Federal Communications Commission – Verizon has decided to eliminate [...]
Verizon Wireless to charge customers $2 per month to pay bills starting Jan 2012
There is no such thing as a free lunch. Apparently there is also no such thing as hard-working, honest Americans paying their monthly phone bill without being charged for the privilege. Starting January 15, 2012 Verizon Wireless is going to charge their customers $2 per month for anyone that pays [...]
Adblock Plus’ new v2.0 allows “acceptable ads” on websites
Adblock Plus is the most popular adblocking add-on around. dotTech recommends it and I am sure many dotTechies (including myself) use it. Indeed in the day and age where some websites have more ads than content, Adblock Plus is one of the best add-ons available. So, then, when the latest [...]
Read More »Google Chrome now integrating ads into the browser, digital riot about to ensue
Don’t like ads? Not very many people do. Use an ad blocker? Cool, me too. There is one ad that I bet your ad blocker will not block (yet); and that is an ad that Google has (apparently) integrated into Google Chrome:
As you can see above, Google is displaying [...]
Read More »[iOS, Android] Dolphin browser found to have major privacy flaw, demonstrates why you should stick to stock browser
Dolphin – available as Dolphin Browser HD and Dolphin Browser Mini on Android and Dolphin Browser on iOS – is an extremely popular third party browser much loved by many users. The developer of Dolphin, however, decided to abuse that love by introducing a major breach of privacy with their [...]
Your cell phone company collects and stores more personally identifiable data than Google or Facebook
In a way it sort of makes sense. Your cell phone runs on your telecom’s network and everything you do – unless you run it over WiFi – on your cell phone is run through their towers. So it goes without saying cell phone companies have access to potentially sensitive [...]
WARNING: CNET Download.com downloads now come bundled with opt-out crapware and toolbars
One of the worst parts of bundled software is that the vast majority of people don’t actually read installers as they go by, they simply click NEXT NEXT NEXT NEXT. This means downloader’s computers get filled to the brim with stuff they don’t want and stuff they’ll never use. Luckily, [...]
Dropbox Security Flaw: Files outside of the “Public” and “Photos” folder can be accessed by others
My oh my. Dropbox has been in the news recently for privacy/security concerns. It appears I may have stumbled upon another security flaw.
All Dropbox accounts have a Photos and Public folder. Files in the Photos and Public folder can be shared with others. According to Dropbox, no files outside [...]
Read More »Dropbox user privacy/data security issues and how you can protect yourself
Dropbox is a popular cloud-storage service. It is loved by all and used by many. Heck, it is dotTech’s favorite and I personally use it too; I have even used – in conjunction with other file hosting services – to run some dotTech Promotions. However, recently some alarming accusations have [...]
A new kind of spam: Developers pretending to be users, “reviewing” their own products, and asking bloggers to post about it
We see spam in our inbox. We see spam on forums. But have you seen forum spam… in your inbox? Lately I have been receiving this new kind of spam, and have decided to share it with the world, so we can all laugh at and ridicule the spammers who [...]
Read More »HostICan = StealICan
During my unannounced getaway from dotTech, there was a time when I wasn’t sure about the status of this website. What will happen to dotTech? Would I continue to update dotTech? Has dotTech officially reached its point-of-no-return? During this time the only thing I knew was that at the moment[...]
Read More »Is your Wi-Fi unprotected? Google probably stole your data.
Privacy, privacy, privacy; it seems all like everyone is talking about nowadays is privacy. And why shouldn’t we be – no one likes the idea of big brother watching every move we make on the internet or having some psychopath be able to find us by simply typing our name [...]
Read More »An Apple a day… keeps the lawsuits their way: Apple under attack by Wall Street
In the past, whether in the wrong or not, Microsoft has been the company to attack. Apparently, now there are deep (enough) pockets elsewhere to target. Not only is Google being targeted but now Apple is too, with the iPhone OS platform (that means anything that uses the iPhone OS, [...]
Read More »Apple may face legal inquiry on Flash snub
Those of you who follow Apple news may know that with the release of iPhone OS 4.0, Apple added a clause in their terms and conditions that all software written for iPhone OS must written “directly in C, C++, or Objective-C” and developers can no longer “call any private APIs”. [...]
Read More »Which government monitors and censors the most? Google tells all.
Google has been in the news lately for many privacy/censorship/etc. issues. I supposed Google HQ has got tired of the Google-bashing when it comes to ‘net neutrality, so is now Google is fighting back. Today Google has released a new “Government Requests tool” to give users insight on which governments [...]
Read More »“UPS Delivery Problem”? Watch out for scam e-mails!
A few days ago I received an e-mail allegedly from UPS (UPS is a global delivery company for those that don’t know):
I immediately knew that this was a scam email so I turned on all my defensive methods and opened the email. You should not do this at home [...]
Read More »Is Google Chrome collecting your private information?
In a recent escalation of sectarian violence between the tech-giant love triangle (Microsoft, Google, and Apple), Microsoft has accused Google Chrome of “collecting every keystroke you make” while Internet Explorer 8 “keeps your information private through two address bars and In Private browsing.”
The accusation – made in a post [...]
Read More »Beat deceitful developers at their deceitful games by calling them out on their deceitful “awards”
Birds might not do it. Bees might not do it — nor even, educated fleas. But… retailers do it. Auto dealers do it. Package tour operators do it. And countless other professions and occupations do it. They all sign up to membership of a trade association that has at its [...]
Read More »Let-Me-Google-That-For-You redirects users to Bing instead of Google – April Fool’s joke or more sinister intentions?
Update: It seems like the Bing redirect was an April Fool’s joke because LMGTFY.com is back to normal.
LMGTFY.com (“Let Me Google That For You”) is a website that allows people to run Google search queries for other people and link the queries to them. Just for the heck of [...]
Read More »The story of the fake VirusTotal
So you’ve probably visited VirusTotal in the past to scan your files. For those that haven’t, VirusTotal is an online, free service that scans your uploaded file(s) – limited to 10 MB in size – with 43 different antivirus engines.
Apparently some scumbag(s) decided to take advantage of VirusTotal’s popularity. [...]
Read More »European Justice (Vengeance?): First Microsoft, now Google in the crosshairs of EU regulators
The Americas and Europe have had their disagreements in the past; apparently, in this case, the “past” does not necessarily mean history, because recent events seem to foretell that the friction is alive and well! The EU is well known for its seeming hatred dislike of Microsoft (or Microsoft’s business [...]
Read More »How trustworthy are Mozilla’s “malware checks” on Firefox add-ons? Sothink Web Video Downloader now declared “false positive”.
On Saturday I posted about how recently Mozilla declared two experimental Firefox add-ons as malware. Now Mozilla is claiming that the malware reading on v4.0 of Sothink Web Video Downloader was actually a false positive. (Master Filer extension is still declared as malware.)
For a moment, lets ignore the fact [...]
Read More »Mozilla confirms malware add-ons for Firefox slipped through the cracks and promises to improve screening process
Although not the most popular browser out there, Firefox – by the Mozilla Foundation – is very popular for its combination of speed, customization (via add-ons), and a fair amount of security. That is not to say it is the most fast browser, has the best customization (which is does, [...]
Read More »Malwarebytes vs. IObit fiasco comes to a close
Last month the interwebz was jolted by Malwarebytes’ claims of IObit stealing their intellectual property and using it in IObit Security 360. Now, it seems, the fiasco has come to a happy (sort of) ending:
Some weeks ago we presented evidence demonstrating that the Chinese company IObit had stolen Malwarebytes’
[...]
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Microsoft issues an apology for stealing open source code and will release the source code for Windows USB/DVD Download Tool
From the time it was announced to when it was discovered that Microsoft used open source code in WUDT without following proper license guidelines, we, we being mostly Samuel with a little of Ashraf sweeping in to take credit like a punk, have covered Microsoft’s new Windows USB/DVD Download Tool [...]
Read More »Microsoft removes the new Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool… because it stole from open source software?
Okay, okay – technically speaking, you can legally take source code from a GNU GPLv2 licensed software (with various stipulations of course such as keeping the license of the new product as GNU GPLv2 and providing the source code) so code taken from a GNU GPLv2 software is not necessarily [...]
Read More »Is IObit Security 360 too good to be true? Malwarebytes claims theft of intellectual property.
You know when you have big dreams to do something, then you hear you won’t be able to attain what you want and all your hope and dreams come crashing down around you? Well this is how I feel when it comes to security software for my computer. I am [...]
Read More »Just great. 20,000 Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, and other e-mail service provider users also hit by phishing scam.
Yesterday I posted about how 10,000+ Hotmail accounts were caught in a wide-spread phishing scam. Today, according to the BBC, “20,000 more names and passwords that have been posted online.” However, this time the e-mail accounts not just limited to Hotmail (@hotmail.com, @msn.com, and @live.com) accounts. This time, accounts affected [...]
Read More »Do you have a Hotmail (@hotmail.com, @msn.com, or @live.com) e-mail address? Refresh your password now! 10,000+ Hotmail accounts got hacked.
Apparently an “anonymous user” posted the login credentials (username and password) of over 10,000 Hotmail accounts on PasteBin.com. Hotmail accounts include @hotmail.com, @msn.com, and @live.com e-mails.
Microsoft, which has confirmed the story, says this is likely the result of a wide spread phishing scam. To help affected users, Microsoft is [...]
Read More »Don’t get Rick Rolled – use Long URL Please to un-shorten shortened links
A couple of days ago I made a post asking dotTechies if a dotTech sponsored URL shortening service would be welcome with open arms. For the most part the response was in the negative, but the comment which struck me the most, was by Kev93; he reminded me the dangers [...]
Read More »EULAlyzer: quickly and easily analyze the EULA before you install a program
In light of my recent post on questionable ethics by Comodo, Emrys, an avid dotTechie, reminded me of a software that helps you quickly and easily analyze EULAs (End User License Agreement – the thing you “accept” or “agree to” before you install a program). Thing about EULAs is often [...]
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