Porn Sites Aren't Just About Sleaze Anymore
In case you needed a reason not to surf for porn, here's one: Nearly all porn sites install some sort of spyware or adware on visitors' computers, according to a survey released today by Eblocs.com, an anti-spyware vendor.
The study "entailed visiting 100 porn sites and running multiple anti-spyware software programs... to identify any Spyware contaminating the computers." This spyware included data miners and trojans, while 15% of sites launched porn dialers (which hijack modems and then dial high-cost long distance phone numbers, racking up high phone bills for the user).
Of course Eblocs have an interest in saying all this, as they sell their own solutions to the problem. And 100 websites is not particularly representative of the massive Porn Web out there (I just typed 'nude' into Google and got 227 million hits). Those 100 websites could have been skewed towards the sleazier and nastier end of the market -- and I'm not talking in terms of the quality of the pornography contained therein.
But nevertheless, I think Eblocs.com has a point. Porn and scams are becoming tighter bedfellows, accompanied by spammers, virus writers and the Russian mafia, as the Internet underground becomes more sophisticated. So it wouldn't surprise me if more and more porn merchants were doing what they could while they could, loading as much nasty stuff onto a visitor's computer while they're browsing. Of course I'm not going to do my own research on this. But if you do, let me know how you get on.
Well, of course but the real question that should be asked and is if it is the Porn enterprises running scams or if it is the scammers using porn to draw users in. My vote would be the latter.
Posted by: Paul | November 19, 2004 at 01:29 AM
i share paul's opinion, i guess there are more scammers using porn than real porn sites today
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Posted by: amg lite | February 16, 2008 at 06:59 PM
I would say you are almost as likely to get spyware by general surfing as you would by surfing adult websites.
Posted by: Trent | July 05, 2008 at 04:09 AM
I can't believe that I'm seeing a post insisting 'porn isn't sleaze' - Fantastic! You've got my vote. ;)
Posted by: Free Spyware Removal | September 09, 2008 at 03:41 AM