Olympic Champ Is Spyware King

Ausssie Olympic gold medallist Dale Begg-Smith does more than attack the slopes -- he's also a spyware king, through his companies AdsCPM and CPM Media, which are linked to home page hijackers, spyware, porn redirectors, and more, say several reports. A TMCnet article cites reports that the companies are involved with "browser hijacker(s) that will reset your home page and often redirect your searches to porn sites."

The anti-spyware site Spywareguide.com reports that CPM Media makes two pieces of spyware -- 2nd-thought and FreeScratchAndWin. 2nd-thought, it reports, is a "browswer hijacker that will reset your home page and often redirect your searches to porn sites. Sometimes it will prevent you from changing your home page."

FreeScratchAndWin, the site says, "is an IE spyware Browser Helper Object dressed up as a web 'scratchcards' game...It also highjacks your home- and search-page settings to point to xzoomy.com, and complains if you try to change them back." The site also notes that the software "Opens pop-up adverts every few minutes," that it "can track users' web usage," and that it "downloads and installs arbitrary unsigned code as part of an update feature."

Begg-Smith has been close-mouthed about his businesses, not wanting to tarnish his newfound gold. It would be nice if the king of Olympic moguls also gave up his title as Spyware Mogul, and closed down his companies.