Techdirt: Latest McDonald’s Giveaway Prize: Spyware — You’ve got to know that this was some idiots bright idea.
McDonald’s Japan came up with what it certainly thought was a great promotion recently: print a code on its soft-drink cups, then get users to send in a text message with it to see if they’d won one of 10,000 MP3 players pre-loaded with 10 free songs. But not only were the MP3 players some junky-looking McDonald’s-branded model, but they came with an added bonus: spyware.
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hmmm….digg continues to beat this blog to stories by a few days
This blog is much much different than digg.com. I hope you are not relying too heavily on Dvorak Uncensored for up to the minute news.
DIGG has a bunch of child minded techno-wannabe’s hyping their latest wet dream.
We at Dvorak Uncensored are a more principled, esoteric and high-minded group.
This post almost made me hurl dude!
BTW, Apple iPods have been infected Windows PC’s too. Apple of course blames Windows for being susceptible.
Digg – about.. what.. 500,000 posters?
Dvorak… 5?
Plus they are COMPLETELY different types of site… thats like saying “hmmm apple.com has more up-to-date info on the ipod than Craigslist…”
#2
The audience is quite different:
Dvorak
* A few topics a day.
* Generally good topics.
* Quite mature audience.
* Friendly discussions even on hot topics.
Digg
* 100s of topics per day.
* Many, but generally imature topics.
* ADD kids on sugar audience.
Das ist alles. 🙂
Besides, we are way cooler in person.
ryan understands the blog about as well as he understands the comment guidelines.
Ummm, i think I sent this to DV, about 4-6 days ago…Didnt I??
Meanwhile, as I was saying to myself, “Self…”
So was McDonalds aware of the trojan or not? I’m much more interested in that then I am with someone that thinks he likes another site better then this one.
9 – Total agreement. Who cares if Billybob prefers BigBlondeHairPorn.com or Ryan prefers Digg.com?
I’m wondering not only whether McDonald’s management knew about the spyware but whether spreading spyware in Ronald McDonald Land will get news coverage the way Sony’s stupidity did. And if it does get press coverage, will McDonald handle the matter more gracefully and honestly than Sony did?
#9
I hope they’re not aware, because then they’ve not learned a thing from Sony’s rootkit disaster.
Ps. Spinoffs are inevitable… resistance is futile! 😉
McDonalds is not the only company shipping virus infected devices.
Apple announced it has shipped several iPods with a windows virus on them. The Apple web site contains information at
http://www.apple.com/support/windowsvirus/
Apple even puts some blame on Microsoft in this quote from the referenced web site:
“As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it. ”
Spyware is the trans-fatty acid of the tech world. It sinks in without you knowing about it, works its way deep into the guts of things, and sours into rancid muck that screws the mechanisim. Sounds like a perfect match for McDonalds.
Maybe I was a little strong earlier. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy this blog, I visit it a number of times daily. But there is a lot of overlap and it sort of wears on me. Oh well.
#14, I understand. Some days my passion to some posts is out of this world and other days I have nothing to add. That is what makes this such an enjoyable blog. Reading what burns other people’s butts. Where are their interests. How stupid can some people really be. How brilliant an answer can someone come up with.
But, I just take it as it comes.
BTW, I think McDonald’s has come a long way in answering many complaints about their practices. I still don’t enjoy their food though. Too salty for my taste.
MacDonald’s food is junk, their giveaway gifts were junk…
huh, go figure.