By John Leyden for The Register
This article has been reproduced with permission
The search engine giant is using data from the Stop Badware
Coalition (StopBadware.org) to
display warnings about potentially harmful sites. In this way,
Google hopes to provide users with a safer searching
experience.
Warnings issued currently link to a general
page on StopBadware.org. But once research on hacker sites is
finished, StopBadware.org will replace this general alert with a
specific report on a site (example
here).
StopBadware.org, launched in January by Harvard University's
Berkman Centre and the Oxford Internet Institute, aims to establish
a neighbourhood watch-style scheme that will put pressure on
purveyors of unsavoury programs that snoop on consumer's net
habits.
Net users can check the site to see if programs they encounter
are potentially damaging. They can also report suspicious sites to
StopBadware.org by following the link here.
The project is supported by Google, Sun, and Lenovo. By
including StopBadware.org warnings within search results, Google
has deepened this relationship. StopBadware.org hopes to work with
other search engines on similar services.
© The Register 2006
