Since I’m clearly in a complaining mood today, let’s just go with it. CNet Tech News is running a Reuters article today about a new piece of crap software called Lover Spy (being sold through spam, of course) that allows users to send what appear to be email greeting cards but in reality install a keystroke recording application on the recipient’s computer and then reports that information back to the sender (and the company of the same name behind Lover Spy as well).
But the article’s author makes no attempt, beyond perusing the Lover Spy website, to see who is doing this or get a comment from these people on why they think offering this clearly illegal software service is acceptable. The article simply states the website “did not list contact information” and that’s that. Did the writer even try to lookup the domain contact information in the WHOIS database? The company must accept credit cards, be hosted somewhere, and so forth. Was any attempt made to find a contact through these routes? Just bad, incomplete journalism.
Still, the bigger story is that you best be very careful in opening any greeting cards, even those sent by people you know.
Update, 10/1/03: About 30 seconds of spelunking, if it can even be called that, shows that the domain used by these piles of moron shiznit is registered to a guy Down Under named Jeff Romelus, and let’s just hope that email address in the WHOIS database actually goes to him. But sadly, it does not, but if you know this guy…
BillSaysThis 