Search Engines Need to Stop Serving Harmful Pages
by Frank Jovine on 09/30/2008 in Internet, Software
It’s up to Google and Yahoo to come together on a solution to stop serving up web sites in their index that 
pose a threat to an end user. There are many sites that are indexed that offer fake software for antivirus and spyware protection. One site recently reported as badware, was selling antivirus software that is nothing but a malware engine.
We need a better solution to protect users from being fooled by these fake companies. I strongly suggest that Google and Yahoo stop allowing these sites to be indexed. There has to be a process put into place that moderates a site before inclusion. Yahoo provides a warning when a site appears in a search, indicating that it could be harmful, but they need to do more. Let’s not only hold the search engine companies accountable, but also the host companies that are allowing this type of fake and harmful web site to be accessible.
For those of you who have either bought Antivirus XP or know someone who has, I recommend you remove it immediately and install a real anti-virus package from any number of reputable firms, such as Norton (Symantec), McAfee, AVG, Kaspersky, Sunbelt, Panda, and the like. If you are unsure regarding whether or not your software is classified as badware, you should consult groups such as the Berkman Center’s Stop Badware initiative.
You can visit the site by following this link http://www.stopbadware.org/
Anthony
Sep 30th, 2008
Some of this is due to what viruses do to the registry. As in the case of Antivirus 2008, it will redirect any searches for the cure of the virus to a bogus site, so it’s not the search engines fault. I had this virus and went through this exact issue on one of my machines.
Frank J
Sep 30th, 2008
Thanks for the information. There are many ways to fool internet users, but this blog is pointing at the search engines to come together and protect all of us from these fake sites.
John
Sep 30th, 2008
Moderating websites before including them in search engine results would be an incredible amount of work.
Perhaps it would be better to allow search engine users to flag pages? These could be verified before being filtered from search results.
John
The Linkback Project
Oct 1st, 2008
@Frank… The problem with that thought: “pointing at the search engines to come together” is that Google will never “come together” with anyone. LOL Those selfish scum would rather die than capitulate!
Frank J
Oct 1st, 2008
You’re probably right, but that chess game between Google and Yahoo will soon come to a stale mate.
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