Third Voice slammed for defacing websites | The Register

Third Voice slammed for defacing websites | The Register: "By Tony Smith
Published Friday 11th June 1999 16:03 GMT
US software developer Third Voice has provoked the ire of Internet users and Webmasters by releasing software that allows Web surfers to share comments about Web sites.

...when software developers get too smart for their own good, bad things begin to happen...

The problem is not necessarily that the Third Voice system is invasive, but that it allows anyone to add comments - such as spam - to a Web site without the permission of the site's owner.
Third Voice is a Windows-only browser plug-in that allows users to select text on a Web page and attach a comment, in the form of a pop-up note, to it. Other Third Voice users visiting the site see one or more icons on the page which signal the presence of comments. It's unlikely that the Third Voice software actually modifies a page's code directly - it's more likely that Third Voice itself maintains a database of URLs and connected comments. That said, the effect - at least for other Third Voice users - is much the same: and it's not necessarily what the page designer intended." - The Register

In a report written by Tony Smith of the British newsline The Register, a software company Third Voice is slammed in the article for "defacing" websites ! When software developers get too smart for their own good bad things begin to happen. Here is an example of inadvertant spamming of your own users by not engineering enough security into their core product ! Sound familiar ? One of many quick ways to code yourself out of business! - zzb