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Avast Free Antivirus joins fray against Trump... Just Wow!
Idiot:
--- Quote from: Sighlass on January 17, 2017, 07:24:44 pm ---Let me start off saying I am not one for writing, my wife is far more competent in such matters, but I wanted to convoy what happened to me today that surprised me.
I use a free antivirus program called "Avast", it is one of the bigger programs for protecting your computer used on the internet, and in my opinion it does a fine job. But being free you get "pop-ups" on occasion that remind you that their paid version is so much better and to consider renting a year's expanded coverage. That is fine, it is capitalism.
But today I got a surprise, my "pop-up" was a link to an anti-Trump news article. I was quite surprised to see Avast blatantly stick it's finger in politics for progressives.
Here is the link the "pop-up" linked to. It does not contain any virus (clean link) but you can read for yourself just how one sided this article was. You have to remember I am not a Trumpbot, never even came close, but I surely didn't expect an antivirus company to start pushing this liberal crap on me. I may not of voted for him, but that does not mean I can't see when he is being trashed beyond what is normal.
https://www.the-parallax.com/2017/01/16/kasparov-trump-putin-fake-news/?utm_source=parallax&utm_campaign=q1parallax17&utm_medium=toaster-infoad&utm_content=Article-1-Trump
Now this article is a "fake news" article about "fake news". OTWs republicans read fake news and we need you to only read our news and call their news fake. It is basically BS. But one has to remember, Avast (since it bought AVG) has over 400 million people it just spammed. News organizations drool over that amount of power. It certainly is not to be taken lightly.
Anyhoo, once again I am not a writer, but this ticked me off. Screw you Avast, take your politics out of antivirus programs. It does not behoove you.
--- End quote ---
I use Avast as well and haven't had any of the popups that you've mentioned.
Sighlass:
--- Quote from: mrpotatohead on January 17, 2017, 09:10:19 pm ---I use Avast as well and haven't had any of the popups that you've mentioned.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: endicom on January 17, 2017, 08:45:41 pm ---
That's probably not Avast's doing. Avast takes money from a third party that hosts ads from who pays them. Probably.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: Wingnut on January 17, 2017, 08:20:09 pm ---I use the "Free" Avast. Had three Pop-ups today. None like that. Just the usual.
We blocked x number of virus world wide today...
--- End quote ---
@Wingnut @endicom @mrpotatohead
Yes it was Avast's pop-up (I didn't think to take a screenshot but I did take great notice). I did a little research and this website is propped up somewhat by Avast. I will quote the bio of the author (Garry Kasporov) who works for Avast.
QUOTE "As a security ambassador for Avast Software, sponsor of The Parallax, ...." END QUOTE
https://www.the-parallax.com/author/garry-kasparov/
So yes I a fully confident it was Avast that did this. It was not a paid advertisement either (I have never seen a 3rd party ad from them even once), it was their pop-up notification.... I get one about every 2 or 3rd days so they are not frequent. Glad others have not reported this happening to them, but it did happen to me. Also notice that Avast has ads all over the website they linked to. It is basically owned and operated by Avast. You can bet on it.
Notice the link I gave had stuff in it that read that it was linked. The regular URL is below...
https://www.the-parallax.com/2017/01/16/kasparov-trump-putin-fake-news/
This is URL I linked that was linked from Avast (link below).
https://www.the-parallax.com/2017/01/16/kasparov-trump-putin-fake-news/?utm_source=parallax&utm_campaign=q1parallax17&utm_medium=toaster-infoad&utm_content=Article-1-Trump
Both go to same article, but one has header information telling them just how much traffic was sent from Avast's pop-up ad.
______________________________________
--- Quote from: Cripplecreek on January 17, 2017, 09:02:38 pm ---Guess I just don't get what the issue is.
What I'm seeing isn't news at all but Gary Kasparov's opinion which he's entitled to, however nearly all media both for and against Trump is pure opinion now anyway so its all "fake news". In this case I happen to agree with Kasparov about the dangers of misinformation used to discredit real info. Its nothing new. Cass Sunstein wrote a paper at Columbia university about the value of conspiracy theories and misinformation.
After all, I see the Trumpers passing around a story from Alex Jones claiming that Roger Stone was poisoned with Polonium despite the obvious problems with such a claim.
--- End quote ---
@Cripplecreek
The first two paragraphs set the tone, but yes later in his article he calmed down and started talking sense eventually. Personally we know him to be a Hillary supporter because he said he was. But to discard the first couple of paragraphs which he links in his defense to TIMES and BBC and NYTIMES for reference. He also references NBC and WashingtonPost in the next paragraphs. Just because they are usually liberal (in my opinion) does not in itself make one article bad, but in political matters they are rarely on target.
That said, I agree, I hate fake news. I have a buddy (good ole boy) that reposts every dang thing he sees on FB as fact. Drives me crazy. Even though he is conservative, he posts some of the most retarded outright lies as truth. I fact check him all the time and try to correct him, but he never seems to see that he is making conservatives look bad when he posts things that are not true. Most of it just requires a little common sense to see it is fake.
Link to where he said he was voting for Hillary Clinton below.
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsmax-Tv/garry-kasparov-chess-hillary-clinton-vote/2016/09/09/id/747568/
EC:
--- Quote from: Cripplecreek on January 17, 2017, 09:02:38 pm ---Guess I just don't get what the issue is.
--- End quote ---
May I summarize?
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. What they are not entitled to is my attention.
Avast has been granted some of my attention to their pop-ups, as it provides a service in return - protecting my computer. The pop-ups are fairly benign or nondescript - reminder that they'll go away if I pay, tooting the company horn, stuff like that. Fine - part of the deal. The deal was never that their pop-ups would be used as an opinion feed that I have to pay to actively avoid.
JustPassinThru:
To the Left...everything is politics. What products we use; what neighborhood we live in...WHAT OUR SKIN HUE IS...is all political or must be made political.
The data-processing and digital communications fields present SUCH an opportunity to inject THEIR intolerant, drumbeat politics into it...they can't help themselves.
I don't need Avast. I don't need it because I use Linux. Yes, it's less stable than better installations of Windows; but it's also virtually-immune to hacking and viruses. I have the major browsers written for it...Chromium and Firefox. Popups I have; and occasional crashes; but I don't need to worry if my good, free antivirus becomes a political plaything tomorrow.
Sighlass:
--- Quote from: EC on January 19, 2017, 10:58:17 am ---May I summarize?
The deal was never that their pop-ups would be used as an opinion feed that I have to pay to actively avoid.
--- End quote ---
Thanks @EC
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