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Underlined words on innocent Web pages might
be fake links that lure you or your kids to any unsavory
site. And get this: Microsoft DESIGNED it this way.
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technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and
commentaries, continuously available online since
1983
Microsoft 'tags' create bogus hyperlinks
that porn sites could use to lure your kids
June 17, 2001
By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2001, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2001, The Syracuse
Newspapers
Note: Under pressure from users,
industry experts and the press, Microsoft is holding off
on its plan to use "Smart Tags" as of the
autumn of 2001. It could reinstate its plans at any
time.
Microsoft's new Windows
XP and Office XP can insert unauthorized hyperlinks into
Web pages, giving anyone running Windows XP or Office XP
the impression that the links come from the original
site.
Microsoft's new Windows XP and Office
XP can insert unauthorized hyperlinks into Web pages,
giving anyone running Windows XP or Office XP the
impression that the links come from the original site.
The news that the two XP programs can do
this broke a few weeks ago, but I refused to believe the
story until I checked it myself. I was dismayed to discover
that the accounts are true.
Windows XP and Office XP can insert what
Microsoft calls "Smart Tags" into any Web page
you have on your screen. "Smart Tags" are
hyperlinks -- underlined words or phrases you click on to
open Web pages. They work just like ordinary hyperlinks
with one huge exception: They're totally bogus.
"Smart Tags" are not part of
the Web page you're reading and weren't put there
by the author of that page. Windows XP and Office XP put
them there without the permission or knowledge of the Web
site's creator. The unauthorized links lead to Web
sites chosen by Microsoft and its cooperating
companies.
Smart Tags are not limited to
unauthorized links in Web pages. Microsoft's Office XP
programs can insert Smart Tags in Microsoft Word documents,
Access databases, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint
presentations. These can be passed along to other users if
the files are sent in e-mail.
The idea that a company found guilty of
running an illegal monopoly in computer software would do
something like this is hard to understand. Microsoft
obviously has no business putting bogus hyperlinks into
anyone else's Web pages. But this is not obvious to
Microsoft.
As a journalist who writes about
computers and software, I find Microsoft's "Smart
Tags" an extraordinarily dumb idea. But as a Web-site
author and designer, I consider these bogus tags
insulting.
But this does not tell you how I actually
feel. I am outraged, angry beyond words, knowing that
someone I don't know and hardly trust could fill my
carefully crafted Web pages with bogus hyperlinks. No doubt
many Web designers whose sites have a lot of advertising
would be just as upset, since "Smart Tags" could
create unwanted links that seem to be part of the ads.
What's worse, regular sites could end
up with bogus links that lead to child porn sites, and
anyone smart enough to create a Windows virus could also
create "Smart Tags" that entice innocent Windows
users to click on a virus in the guise of an
official-looking link on any Web site that did not ban
Smart Tags.
Microsoft says it will come up with code
that Web designers can place on every page they don't
want tagged. For those with large sites like mine, editing
every page among hundreds on the site would take a lot of
time and effort. I plan to bill Microsoft for my time when
I do this massive editing project, and I suggest others do
the same.
Microsoft's documentation for its
"Smart Tags" ignores these dangers, concentrating
on how helpful these links could be for someone who wants
to add information to a business contact's name in a
Microsoft Word document, for example. The "Smart
Tag" could provide a quick way to call up extra
data.
This ignorance of the potential effects
of "Smart Tags" makes me shudder. Will someone
please knock a little harder on Microsoft's door? No
one seems to be home.
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