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Search
Engine Expert, Web Guerrilla, Exposes 'Pagejacking' Scandal
Involving Barnes & Noble and eToys
VALENCIA,
Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--While working to improve a client's
ranking, search engine specialist Greg Boser of Web Guerrilla
discovered a major scam: a company known as Green Flash Systems
LLC, of San Diego, had copied hundreds of web pages and then
submitted them to major search engines on behalf of several
high-profile Internet companies, including eToys and Barnes
& Noble.
The
scam worked like this: Green Flash located pages, with top
search engine rankings, that also contained keyword phrases that
were relevant to the businesses of its clients.
Then,
rather than reverse-engineer similar listings, Green Flash
simply copied the pages to its server and used a cloaking system
to deliver the stolen pages to Internet search engines.
Visitors, clicking on the search engine listings created by the
stolen pages, were then diverted to the web sites of Green
Flash's clients.
Boser
discovered the scheme while checking rankings for his client, Data
Recovery Group, of San Leandro, California.
Using
legal and ethical means, Boser had achieved the #1 ranking for
the term "data recovery" in several search engines.
Upon discovery of the competitor's listing, after conducting an
exact search for "Data Recovery Group," he became
suspicious. Using Alta Vista's Babelfish language translator, he
was able to retrieve the stolen page.
As
Boser researched more domains hosted by Green Flash, he found
hundreds of additional pages that appeared to have been taken
without permission, from web sites that ranged from personal
home pages to high-profile sites such as Disney, CNET and the
Discovery Channel.
"The
wronged companies need to know that their pages have been
stolen--and the companies that benefited need to know they are
unwitting accomplices to a crime," Boser said.
On
Thursday, April 27, 2000, Boser filed a formal complaint against
both Green Flash and his client's competitor, Data
Recovery Labs, of Toronto, with the United States Federal
Trade Commission.
Boser
has full documentation at pagejacking.webguerrilla.com
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