ECA
01-26-2005, 09:19 PM
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/printable/article/0,aid,118781,00.asp
You can take steps to guard your PC against this ad invasion (see "Protect Yourself"). But such ads aren't the only ones coming your way: Expect lots more multimedia ads and new networks that track users online to deliver ads that match their interests (see "Ads Get Flashier, More Personal").
Off-Key Experience
A reader initially alerted PC World to an ad-laden Windows Media Audio file, titled "Alicia Keys Fallin' Songs In A Minor 4.wma." We then found two other WMA files and two Windows Media Video files that had been similarly modified. A firm called Overpeer released these files, we discovered.
Overpeer (owned by Loudeye) first made news in mid-2002 by offering its services to record companies looking to stop P-to-P pirates. It creates fake audio files that purport to be popular songs but play only a short loop of the track or an antipiracy message; then the file pops up a window offering the downloader a chance to buy the song. By flooding file-sharing services with spoofed files, Overpeer makes finding real music files more difficult.
You can take steps to guard your PC against this ad invasion (see "Protect Yourself"). But such ads aren't the only ones coming your way: Expect lots more multimedia ads and new networks that track users online to deliver ads that match their interests (see "Ads Get Flashier, More Personal").
Off-Key Experience
A reader initially alerted PC World to an ad-laden Windows Media Audio file, titled "Alicia Keys Fallin' Songs In A Minor 4.wma." We then found two other WMA files and two Windows Media Video files that had been similarly modified. A firm called Overpeer released these files, we discovered.
Overpeer (owned by Loudeye) first made news in mid-2002 by offering its services to record companies looking to stop P-to-P pirates. It creates fake audio files that purport to be popular songs but play only a short loop of the track or an antipiracy message; then the file pops up a window offering the downloader a chance to buy the song. By flooding file-sharing services with spoofed files, Overpeer makes finding real music files more difficult.