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While “100 Percent Girls” might sound like a kid-friendly girl-power web site, it isn’t, as some America Online surfers discovered. A link to 100PercentGirls.com, which turns out to be a pornographic web site, appeared in the Just for Fun section of AOL’s Kids Only channel. It was stricken from the site Sunday evening after its existence was reported by 2600: The Hacker Quarterly Online. The appearance of the link, which has not been explained, is particularly ironic because the Kids Only section is supposed to include a search engine that filters out content that would be inappropriate for young web surfers. While there are pictures of naked women on the adult site’s home page, according to reports the raciest content is accessible only by people who pay. The site is registered to a resident of Turkey.
Top search engines unearth credit card info
Leading search engines are increasingly coming across sensitive online data that should be confidential, according to a report by CNET News. Specifically, Google, because it now offers ways to search for many types of documents beyond mere html files, can turn up credit card numbers and passwords. It doesn’t take a skilled hacker to take advantage of Google’s new capacity, either. The passwords and data that are found generally are posted on insecure sites and servers. Google, after all, searches all parts of the web that are accessible to the public and not blocked by search engines. While many web sites encode methods to turn web crawlers away, many don’t, although they are tightening security in the wake of these findings. Also, hackers know the codes that signify sensitive, and therefore desirable, data.
EBay publishes print catalog
EBay, the online auction site and dot.com stalwart, is looking to old media to spread the word about itself. Although its flea market-like inventory of some 6.5 million goods, which come from millions of sellers, is usually in flux, the company is publishing a print catalog of its wares. Starting this coming Sunday, the eBay catalog will arrive as an insert in 55 newspapers around the nation. EBay is turning to this traditional sales method largely because it is so traditional: During the holidays, company officials say, many shoppers turn to catalogs. This holiday season, a lot of shoppers are expected to look to eBay for used goods and bargains. The catalog, which is created by Publicis Groupe unit Frankel, also marks an increase in eBay’s marketing budget: $40 million in the fourth quarter, up significantly from $26 million in the same quarter last year.
Book peddler BN.com turns to windshield fliers
The stinginess of companies’ ad budgets these days manifests itself in many ways. BarnesandNoble.com, the online arm of the leading bookseller, has adopted what seems to be the latest method of marketing on the cheap: slipping photocopied fliers under cars’ windshield wipers. The fliers have appeared in New York City neighborhoods such as the Upper East Side. The fliers, according to the New York Post, are also notable for their butchery of the English language. “Same day delivery in Manhattan and lower price than of competitors,” says one of the fliers. Ad spending downturn notwithstanding, windshield fliers aren’t necessarily a new tactic among dot.coms. CarOrder.com, a defunct auto retail site, slipped recruiting fliers under the windshields of workers at now-defunct Garden.com in an effort to lure away staff during the spring of 2000.
AOL: We have 32 million subscribers now
America Online, the leading internet network and service provider, has 32 million subscribers worldwide as of last week. The AOL Time Warner property broke the 30-million user mark back in June. Still, industry observers say that the growth of AOL’s member rolls is slowing down. During the fourth quarter of last year, the company was adding an astonishing 20,000 new subscribers a day, for 2.1 million new users in the quarter. AOL’s goal for this quarter is to add 1.7 million new subscribers. But to achieve that, according to analysts, AOL must add 30,000 new users each day for the rest of the quarter. AOL says that the release of its latest edition, AOL 7.0, helped it past the 32 million-member mark.
November 27, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
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