Scumware & Video Poker
Junkie.com
(all links open in a new window)
I know many of you are not
aware of what scumware is, what it does to you, and how it affects me, the
portal owner, so here's some basic information for you as well as a request
for support from you.
What is scumware?
Scumware, also known as parasiteware or spyware, is
software that users unknowingly download when it piggybacks with
another program that you're intentionally downloading. Some examples
of the programs that contain the hidden spyware are Gator, Bonzi, Kazaa,
Morpheus, Weather.net - for a full listing see
Spyware Guide.com
. Gator is so invasive that even after you remove
the program it will leave a file designed to "trickle" down Gator files back
onto your computer, so that within a few days you'll have the full Gator
program back on your computer, even though you've removed it.
How does it
affect you, the internet user?
Most of the scumware/parasiteware/spyware products
are installed on your computer by companies that want to track your internet
usage and use that information. The software watches and records where
you go on the internet and transmits your personal data back to those
companies for advertising purposes. Once they know what it is you
like, they start serving popup ads to you, tailored to fit your usage.
How does it affect me, the portal owner?
The vast majority of the internet
is made up of websites built, owned, and operated by individual webmasters.
Websites that provide free information to their customers, like this one,
depend on advertising sales to support them - the internet is a huge,
economically interdependent system.
What scumware does,
after it profiles and reports what you like, is to use our sites to steal your
business. What is does here at Video Poker Junkie is to wait for you
to click through to a casino to check it out, then it will throw a popup in
your face in an attempt to steal you away from that casino - and me.
You can see examples of it here -
Theft. These screenshots were all
taken by a friend of mine over one 2-hour period!!
Can you imagine how
you or your local neighborhood store owner would feel if you went in to pick
up some bread or milk, and a Walmart employee walked up to you and said,
"Come to our store and buy it there!"? Or if you went to shop at
Macy's and someone from Saks Fifth Avenue blocked the door, told you they'd
been watching your buying habits, then told you to go to their store?
Since August of
2002, many websites have noticed a significant loss of earnings. In
many cases, the websites have become unprofitable. If this trend continues,
many of the quality websites will cease to exist. Unfortunately, due
to the nature of the internet, it's very difficult to get universal laws
against it. Gator, the largest perpetrator of this theft, and its
users, have been sued many times in the last year or so in the United
States by some very large companies, and have lost; but it's not enough to stop them. We are now
trying to get them out of the online gambling industry.
How you can help!
1. Become "Spyware
Savvy" and rid yourself of spyware. You can click
here to see if you have any spyware or adware on your computer.
There are a couple of free programs you can download that will scan your computer
for you and eliminate adware programs;
-
AdAware - a very popular and easy to use
program, but has problems detecting and removing a couple of scumware
programs. In most cases, this alone will be enough for you, but if
not.....
-
Spybot - is a newer and very good program
that seems to be detecting some of the newer spyware programs better.
2. Replace parasite-ridden
programs that you use with other, non-parasitic, programs;
-
Roboform - Replaces Gator; free, fills in forms for you,
does auto-logins for you and keeps a list, and does NOT carry any scumware
with it. A wonderful program I use myself.
- Diet
Kazaa - Replaces Kazaa (regular), Morpeus, and any music-sharing
programs, and has no apparent scumware downloaded with it like the others
do.
3. Support the GPWA (Gambling
Portal Webmasters Association) and other major gambling portals
in their efforts to stop scumware usage in our industry. We have a
public forum dedicated to
The Scumware Battle where you can find
links to other sites, articles, and useful information. We've been in
active negotiations over the last few months with many online casinos to
drop their scumware usage; most have, in an effort to conduct business
ethically and fairly - but a few haven't.
4.
Help us by Boycotting the casinos that are refusing to drop their
scumware usage. These casinos, many of them large ones, are refusing
to drop their scumware usage which, again, tracks your internet activity and
steals business from us and their competitor casinos, most of whom have
committed to fair and ethical business practices by not using scumware.
The list of casinos who are refusing to drop their scumware usage follows;
if you can help support this by not playing at these casinos unless they
concede, and by not clicking on their ads, we may be able to get them to
stop their unethical behavior.
All
Slots
Atlantis Fortune
Big Dollar
Big Flash
First Web
Jackpots in a Flash
King Neptunes
Trident Lounge
Piggs Peak
Wild Jack
7 Sultans
Royal Vegas
Vegas Palms
Vegas Villa
Casino-On-Net
Reef Club Casino
USA Casino
New York Casino
If you'd like to take it a step further, then email any of
these casinos at their support@ email address
to let them know you won't be playing at their casino as long as they're
using scumware!
Thank you very much for your support in this - we all will
be deeply appreciative!! If you have any further questions or need
help, please let me know at
slycin56@videopokerjunkie.com
