Public Service: The Creeping Ick

[azurelunatic]

malepregnancy.com, FYI, since the link's been going around, has a lot of creeping ICK on it, and will try to install stuff on your computer. The site's a well-executed joke except for the nasties. It took a round with SpyBot S&D and a reboot before Thalia felt well enough to access any new web pages or copy and paste again.

Comments

[kokuten.livejournal.com]

I'm having difficulty coming up with a punishment dire enough for the people that do this sort of thing.. I recently spent almost 6 hours cleaning and rebopoting and uninstalling and cleaning..

I don't want to demean rape victims, but the whole scenario made me feel dirty and ill-used.. I am angry, and I don't know who to kill.

[azurelunatic]

I've had sex before where I really wished I wasn't having sex during the time while the sex was being had with me, except I wasn't comfortable enough to say so. I've had a few very slimy characters verbally try to do unspeakable things.

And I've had malware installed on my system.

I think that malware is definitely comparable to medium-to-bad sexual harassment, especially when one considers the computer a part of one's body, an extension of one's brain. It's an invasion of personal space, it's an assault.

And yeah. You do want to kill somebody.

[amberfox.livejournal.com]

when one considers the computer a part of one's body, an extension of one's brain. It's an invasion of personal space, it's an assault.

I'm sure there are people who don't think of their computer that way, but I certainly do. So much of my life is stored on it that major damage to it is almost like brain damage in a way; losing my hard drive means losing memories, experiences. Some things are not replaceable.

[nalidoll.livejournal.com]

i'm getting spoiled. i have firefox, which does not let much through, and am in the free-subscription part of owning a new computer, with the anti-virus thingies.

since i don't even see normal pop-ups anymore, and stuff doesn't try to install with me, i forget these things.

[azurelunatic]

There is a reason I call my LJ "nearly a prosthetic memory". Without it, I'd be a gibbering heap and have to pull a Simon.

[azurelunatic]

This was with Firefox, and only slightly outdated antivirals.

[azurelunatic]

...and I figured that if anything was popping up and trying to install despite Firefox and SpyBot S&D's TeaTimer and the McAffee, then it was some seriously bad shit, especially as links stopped working after I quickly closed the hell out of the page.

[wibbble]

The best way to get spoiled is to have a Mac - none of these things touch us. It's great. :o)