Directory of Ezula Resources

Home > Society > Issues > Business > Allegedly Unethical Firms > Ezula

Ezula.com makes a plugin for Microsoft Internet Explorer that replaces text within web pages with links to advertisers' sites. Many webmasters have objected to links specifically featuring their competitors; others have more general objections based on the perceived integrity of their work after it has been infiltrated by links which they have not reviewed, or have reviewed and disapproved.

Resources in This Category

• Associate Programs Newsletter: How to stop Scumware from defacing your website

  http://www.associateprograms.com/search/newsletter173.shtml
  Explains how Top Text and similar programs can negatively affect income streams, particularly for sites that use affiliate programs.

• COTSE: You may have heard of Microsoft Smart Tags, but have you seen Ezula and Surf+?

  http://www.cotse.com/8202001.html
  A webmaster's editorial accusing TopText and Intelsoft International's Surf+ of theft, false advertising, and deceptive self-promotion.

• c|net Tech News: Chorus of Gator critics grows

  http://www.cnet.com/news/chorus-of-gator-critics-grows/
  Article on Interactive Advertising Bureau's possible regulatory complaint over Gator's ad insertion. Also discusses Top Text and the effort against it.

• c|net Tech News: Peer-to-peer exchanges court advertisers

  http://www.cnet.com/news/peer-to-peer-exchanges-court-advertisers/
  Article describing the financial arrangements, briefly mentioning the controversy.

• Foistware

  http://www.cexx.org/toptext.htm
  Information to help users and webmasters identify when Top Text is installed.

• geek/talk Forums at GeekVillage

  http://www.geekvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12175
  Discussion about the eZula TopText defacement in the context of copyright violation.

• Mystery links: New Web advertising tool gets results, draws criticism

  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/07/30/BU231339.DTL
  San Francisco Chronicle: mentions concerns about the ethics of covert advertising, and commercial firms outraged by links to competitors' sites.

• San Diego Daily Transcript: 'Poachware' Routes Computer Users To Alternate Web Sites

  http://www.sddt.com/Search/article.cfm?SourceCode=20010827tba
  Article about anti-competitive involuntary hyperlinks being placed by Top Text (aka ContextPro).

• Slashdot: Don't Eat the Yellow Links

  http://slashdot.org/features/01/07/31/2015216.shtml
  Web owners upset by changed content; describes an "opt-out" procedure.

• ThiefWare.com

  http://www.thiefware.com/
  Information and resources primarily for webmasters who wish to fight unethical contextual advertising.

• TrafficG Yellow and Green Link Killer

  http://www.trafficg.com/scumware/index.htm
  Provides script to disable Top Text and Surf+. Documents source code alterations made by these programs.

• You got the yellow linking Virus?

  http://www.funs.co.uk/virus/
  Gives information on how to remove/unistall TopText, and links to other more detailed resources.

 

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