[Infowarrior] - Hidden Dangers in Visiting Porn Sites

[Richard Forno]

Hidden Dangers in Visiting Porn Sites
Nov 28 07:06 PM US/Eastern
By JORDAN ROBERTSON
AP Technology Writer

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8T6V9RG0&show_article=1

        SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Online pornography hunters' Internet
adventures are already fraught with danger from malicious code many porn
sites use to commandeer visitors' machines or steal personal data.

Now comes a scheme some researchers say amounts to extortion: One site's
threat to disable visitors' computers with relentless pop-up ads if they
don't pay for a subscription they were automatically signed up for after a
free trial.

The threats, reported this week by researchers at security vendor McAfee
Inc.'s Avert Labs, affect people who visit the Web site and download
software to access a free three-day trial membership.

Visitors do get free access for three days, but the download includes code
that then generates a stream of pop-up windows, when the user is online and
offline, demanding payment of roughly $80 for 90 days' worth of additional
access.

The windows stay open up to 10 minutes and appear once a day. They appear on
top of any open windows and restore to their original size if shrunk or
moved, making them impossible to ignore. They also reappear if the computer
is rebooted.

The site actually warns visitors they will be billed as full members‹and
lose full use of their computers if they don't‹unless they cancel the
subscription within the trial period. But the warning appears in the full
terms and conditions statement, which downloaders aren't required to read.

Once the fees are paid, the software can be removed with a special file.

"What it appears they are doing is, in my humble opinion, a form of
extortion based on the (usually correct) assumption that a person's computer
will be key to many other activities in their daily life," McAfee researcher
Seth Purdy wrote on the Avert Labs blog.


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