“You’re Cheating Heart, Won’t Tell On You” – But I Might!

The Internet is hardly what one could call transparent. The Net, unfortunately, has any number of dark, murky sides – including anonymity. Anonymity which allows cybercriminals, trolls, flamers, hackers, spammers, phishers, malware pushers, and cyberbullies to flourish. I’m sure you can add to the list.

Now, we have cyberbullying taking to a new level – a website designed to out cheaters. Anonymously, of course.

Cheaterville.com, offers an opportunity for users to log onto the site, defame someone’s reputation and character, and do it anonymously. Just imagine – a  website where people can anonymously accuse spouses, friends, and even enemies, of infidelity. A perfect opportunity for the cowardly to attempt to destroy someone’s life without accountability, and without meeting a burden of proof .

The reality is – people cheat.

While I’m certainly not a defender of infidelity as practiced by well known connoisseurs of the cheating art – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods, Eliot Spitzer, and the like – nevertheless, the concept behind this site is nauseating and detestable.

Consider your reaction if you stumbled upon anonymously posted data, concerning you – as illustrated in the following taken from the site.

Trouser Snake Hunter.

Remember this face when you are in SOCAL because if you see her out at a bar then you are most likely going introduce yourself and then 5 minutes later be getting oral from her in the bathroom. When will her clueless boyfriend find out what a skank his girl is.

Adriano Iori

I dated this man for 5 years I gave him my heart and soul. I went through a hard time dealing with a rape charge he was the ony 1 here for me when i had no one. I gave him everything he wanted asking nothing for return. The money and time and love i spent on him. Later I find out not only did he cheat on me with tons of girls from other schools he then sleeps with my best friend he was caught in the act. Till this day he wont admit it he tells me im making it up and that im crazy coward even after we broke i still stuck up 4 him till the day he told me to drop dead and called me a crazy bitch all bc i moved on and didnt “wait for him to be of age for a serious commitment”

Cheats and steals from everyone.

She’s cheated on her ex-husband, another ex-fiance, and boyfriends before. She is a compulsive liar and will try and con her way into your life with the intent of getting to your wallet. The ex-husband and ex-fiance were both in the military and she cheated on them while they were deployed or in training. I’ve personally caught text messages of her in her lies and she was trying to be with other guys when we were together. Her father cheated a lot on her mother, so it runs in the family. Just stay away as she’s nothing but trouble.

Silly question time.

What if the postings on this site aren’t true?

Hey, no problem. According to the morally wretched founder of Cheaterville.com – 90% of the “accused”  respond directly to the post, either denying it, or admitting to it.

Just in case you might think this sleazebag hasn’t though this through, in a recent interview he pointed out – “just like Facebook doesn’t validate anything that is posted on a wall – we don’t validate info.” Sure, you’re in the same league as Facebook – not!

Not one to pass up an opportunity to practice a little vertical integration, the primitive sleazoids behind Cheaterville.com have created an online dating service where cheated partners can seek out other cheated partners. Nice!

Unfortunately, as things stand at the moment, American website operators are protected from lawsuits for publishing defamatory statements posted by third parties. Defamation legislation in other countries is less clear.

Welcome to a morally imploding Gerry Springer world!

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CNET’s 2010 Top 10 Downloads Tell A Tale!

This year, CNET has delivered more than ONE BILLION downloads, and recently plucked its 2010 top 10 downloads from this amazing number of served up applications. Reportedly, there are now 1.2 billion Internet users, so the CNET numbers are impressive indeed!

After reading the published list, I must admit, I was more than a little surprised. Of the top ten downloads, five are anti-malware applications.

In fact, the top 6 are:

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition – 84,317,112 downloads.

Avast Free Antivirus  – 52,648,408 downloads.

Avira AntiVir Personal Free Antivirus – 42,165,868 downloads.

YouTube Downloader – 30,068,100 downloads. (the odd man out).

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware – 25,799,006 downloads.

Ad-Aware Free Internet Security – 20,375,957 downloads.

Followed by:

Advanced SystemCare Free – 19,544,950 downloads.

WinRAR – 19,431,244 downloads.

TeamViewer – 15,722,955 downloads.

Camfrog Video Chat – 14,155,432 downloads.

I have somewhat of a problem with this list, and it’s this. Where are the productivity applications, and why are Internet security applications (a quarter of a billion downloads), so prominent on this list?

Let me blue-sky this for a moment:

It seems to me, that this list speaks more broadly to the intolerable exposure to cyber-criminal activity we now face, than any survey which tracks cybercrime, or the impact of cybercrime, on Internet users. In a sense, the CNET list is an indictment of the conditions now prevalent on the Internet.

In a relatively secure Internet environment, we should expect productivity applications to hold a prominent place in a list such as this.  After all, one benefit of computer ownership, including Internet connectivity, is an expectation of increased productivity, which might then lead to a focus on downloading applications which serve that purpose.

Undoubtedly, computer security, on or off the Internet, but especially while surfing the Net, has to be a priority. But, it appears to me, that we may well be so concerned with bolstering our anti-malware defenses, that productivity applications, and perhaps productivity itself, takes second place and gets short shift.

Frankly, I’m astonished that more Internet users aren’t asking the following questions; amongst many others?

How much longer are we prepared to put up with this “Wild West” Internet environment which leads to users installing a cornucopia of anti-malware applications?

How much longer are we expected to accept disruptive personal attacks by cyber-criminals?

How much longer are Governments going to allow organized criminal gangs to impact the daily lives of their citizens – citizens they are sworn to protect – without taking appropriate action?

If we continue to accept the status quo, we can expect that next year’s CNET top 10 downloads will be virtually unchanged.

Let’s not accept the status quo. It’s long past the time that we looked for accountability for the horrendous security conditions that exist on the Internet. It’s time to make some NOISE! It’s time to demand ACTION! It’s time to demand CHANGE!

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