Pretty Sneaky Software?

Brian Martin rants at attrition.org: Anti-Virus Companies: Tenacious Spammers

The heart of the problem, according to Martin:

In the case of the latest worm, I and others have received more spam from Anti-Virus products than the worm itself! As you read this, Anti-Virus companies are responsible for products that are sending out more unwanted mail than the worm itself. The most damning mail from these products not only purport to 'warn you of infection', but they go so far as to advertise the product to you. This is unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE, aka 'spam') in its purest form.

If the Anti-Virus companies were really sneaky, they'd also sell spam-filtering solutions.

Then, their flood of spam-triggered spam would drive up demand for those products. And, because the spam-triggered spam is comparatively easy to filter, its volume pumps up the reportable "effectiveness-rate" of simpleminded spam-blocks.

Oh, wait, they are really sneaky!

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