Microsoft Caves In To Dutch Site On Spyware Spat

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Microsoft Caves In To Dutch Site On Spyware Spat


By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb News

Microsoft this week agreed to both apologize and pay a Dutch portal for mistakenly flagging it as a purveyor of malicious content, the latest in a rash of problems that anti-spyware vendors -- including Microsoft -- have recently faced.
The Startpagina.nl directory site objected to being classified as a "browser hijacker" by the first edition of Microsoft AntiSpyware, the beta software Microsoft first released in early January, and demanded that Microsoft change its tune.

After being threatened with legal action, Microsoft gave in on Monday, and agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to Startpagina.nl's parent company. It has also posted an apology on its own Dutch and Belgian sites dedicated to the AntiSpyware application.

"Snip...
"Because almost all computers use Windows as their operating system, one mistake by Microsoft can cause considerable damage for other businesses," said Bert Wiggers, the director of Startpagina.nl, in a statement earlier this week. "But the apology is what matters the most." The face-down is an example of how vulnerable anti-spyware vendors are to pressure, said Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft. "It's my biggest fear about anti-spyware, he said

"Will Microsoft get too weak on calling badly-behaved software 'malicious,'?" asked Cherry. "Will the company hold to a definition of badly-behaved software, even if it means they have to go into court and defend it?"

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Its amazing how Microsoft caves when it goes up against a justice system that it doesn't control!!!

[Massacure]

1. Spyware is a pain in the ass to detect.

It doesn't supprise me that it catches too much or too little.

Microsoft should have fixed it before getting threatened with legal action though.