Roundup at the 180 corral

I was out of town all day yesterday and missed many wonderful 180solutions blogging opportunities. My fellow zealot bloggers have kept the fires burning, however.  I previously blogged about the 180solutions lawsuit against ZoneLabs. The complaint centers around Zone Labs labeling of 180's software as "high risk" and "trying to monitor your mouse movements and keyboard strokes".  180solutions says these statements are not true and have cost them business including one high profile potential client that refused to sign with 180 due to Zone Labs. Spyware Informer asks if the lawsuit was a hoax and says the puzzle pieces are fitting together and we'll soon see why.

Ed Foster at his Gripeline says the Case Against Zone Labs is 180 Degrees Off.  Ed has some interesting comments about anti-spyware big guys soft peddling the risks of threats like 180solutions.

It's a sad fact that, as the big guys like Symantec and Microsoft have moved into the anti-spyware game, the trend is to be much more euphemistic about what you label as spyware, particularly when the spyware vendor claims to have gotten the user's consent to the installation through a EULA. While "potentially unwanted software" like 180's apps will still be tagged by the anti-spyware scan, the default setting now will often not be to remove it. Increasingly, anti-spyware vendors simply aren't calling a spade a spade, and that of course is a trend the adware crowd like 180Solutions wants to encourage.

This technical analysis of 180solutions' Zango, done by Microsoft MVP Mike Burgess, asks if Zone Labs got it wrong. Mike notes that Zango seems to be monitoring everything,  including Microsoft One Care and MS AntiSpyware, that loads or interacts with the test system. Mike wonders if all the hooking and monitoring done by Zango is really necessary for their "fun and games".

VitalSecurity's Paperghost writes about the rift and hook, got slashdotted for it and rants about 180solutions's use of Winston Churchill in their PR campaign, along with their constant use of the word Zealot.

I'd have written about this sooner, but massed feelings of rage have been busy sweeping over me, the last day or two. [...]

I am of the very real opinion that there are some figures in history - certain things, events and places - that should be left out of PR drives, commercialisation and other such rubbishness.
Remember when Michael Jackson - bless his cotton socks - allowed Nike to use "Revolution" in their adverts for footwear? Ye Gods.
Remember when 180 Solutions jumped on Winston Churchill for a new GO TEAM! publicity drive?
Of course you don't, because it's just happened. But the fact remains - to me, it looks like someone at 180 flipped open a very large Encyclopedia Kickassicus, set their search engines to stun and tried to find who had the most notable quotables with the word "zealot" in it.

Another story about 180solutions broke yesterday but it's so appalling, it deserves a separate blog entry.