Pgmacros Website Is Safe, Thanks Google but don't let the door ... Options

[pgmacros]

Apparently the Great Church of Google conglomerate has more time on its hands than we, or their stockholders, knew. They have taken up the formidable task of deciding good and bad web sites. See attached picture.

Well ... I'm fairly aggravated about this whole thing. And so, for that matter, is Floyd. I won't let Floyd near the keyboard for a bit. And ,er, I shouldn't be here either.

To be fair, there was a file uploaded here by a user that did indeed contain a Trojan. It has since been removed. Furthermore, it apparently, somehow, magically changed an html document on my main page to attempt a redirection. That has also been corrected.

I am VERY aggravated that it happened and I apologize for any inconvenience to all of you.

Its a bureaucratic paradise at the Great Church of Google. There is no God-in-charge, demi-God, sub-God, or God-in-training that I can talk to.

In the mean time, we wait for the Gods that point fingers to get off their collective duffs, to stop admiring themselves in the mirror, and to be done picking fleas off each other's backsides, and to remove this site from their blacklist. They are much quicker to preen, pick fleas, and blacklist than they are to whitelist.

Common courtesy would have been to notify me, the site owner, by email of a discovered problem prior to the blacklisting. It would have given us the opportunity to fix it quickly. After all, nobody likes Trojans, those that create them, those that distribute them, and for that matter, flea picking Gods that publicly point to your web site and say "So let it be written, so let it be done".

The Gods of Google have deemed it better to just blacklist sites publicly. And since none of us here need Google to find this site, it took a lot longer for us to be warned of the potential problem.

Smarter, saner, people than I have attempted shed some light on why we should be well, calmer and take it all in stride. I am doing both. See? (He said through clenched teeth) I'm smiling.

UPDATE Mar-02-2007

Received this response today:

It appears that your site http://www.pgmacros.com no
longer hosts or distributes badware.  As such, we will be removing your
site from our Badware Website Clearinghouse.  In addition, the Google
warning page for your site has either already been removed or should be
removed shortly.

If your site was distributing badware because it had been hacked, then
simply removing the current badware from your site is not enough.  You
will also need to work with your hosting provider to fix all security
vulnerabilities associated with your site.

Please note that we will be retesting your website at periodic intervals
in order to monitor that it remains free from badware.  If we find that
you are hosting or distributing badware in the future, the appeals
process may take considerably longer than the original appeal.

Answers to commonly asked questions from site owners who are the subject
of Google warnings can be found at:
http://stopbadware.org/home/faq#partnerwarnings.

The StopBadware Team

Suffice it to say that the arrogance and threatening tone of their email did not sit well with me. I won't get in to what my response back was.

Chances are good that my opinion and position on this debacle is in the minority. And that is the real tragedy in this adventure; that others truly believe Google and Friends are providing a good service to the Internet community. Hogwash. I know what the road to Hell is paved with.

I've read their intentions, articles, framework, and "reasons" behind their intentions. They're so full of themselves, that pregnancy is inevitable. From their Manifesto:

... new gatekeeper—a single firm that has a “missile battery” that’s so successful at shooting down badware that everyone subscribes, allowing that firm to become a gatekeeper for what will run and what won’t.

Now they are not talking about themselves here. They are stating they don't want someone else like you, me, the government, or software manufacturers to be a gatekeeper ... a protector of the Internet.

However, as is usual with the arrogant, they are the very thing, the very gatekeeper, they claim to be against.

Attached File(s)

 Image0687.jpg ( 131.45K ) Number of downloads: 103

 

[terrypin]

I would be close to apoplexy in the same circumstances! As you say, having at some time detected a potential problem on that page, Google's first step should have been to contact you and give you an opportunity to comment.

After a reasonable period - a day? at most a week - I'd be inclined to sue them. Perhaps collectively, as the laws of statistics guarantee that you won't have been singled out

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

[randallc]

H,
Sorry to hear of your dreadful hassles!
Neveretheless, as a non-involved outsider with interest and long-time involvement, I note ;
"the threatening tone"

I see by your comment that it all does feel to you "threatening" as you are so involved, but, as an outsider, I hope it will help you cope with that "fixed forced smile", that I see it all as simply a statement of useful monitoring of the web, rather "descriptive" than "threatening"! -
I see no threat, only information.
Best of luck for the future site security,
Best, Randall

[aoz]

I see arrogance in thier tone. You are guilty until proven innocent.

lady in new york, arrested by cops, child put in custody for 3 days; case of mistaken identity, law enforcement did not listen to the lady indicate that she was NOT the person they found in the database; 1 day later, they confirmed her story; THREE days later, child released back to her custody.
now in civil suit (newspaper, 3 days ago)

Perhaps in the future, companies (legit) that are hit with the google block, IMMEDIATELY chage their popup image to include a DISCLAIMER that they ahve contacted google to rectify this, and as of "x" days, google has still not responded.

perhaps then the general internet community , the end users, will put some pressure to at least have the powers that be, investigate the claim

Nick

[pgmacros]

We want to thank all of you for your responses.

There has been no more news about this incident in a while. But if anything does explode over it (like Floyd's brain) then we'll post something here and reopen the topic.