Bittorrent and the meaning of ‘malware’
by Rodolfo Rosini
This is an email exchange between me and Bittorrent. Enjoy. I removed last names and other personal details.
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Guys,
maybe was not clear enough before.
You engage in scumbaggy deceptive practices and hide behind the thin veil of but it’s legal and others are doing it. I am sure nobody at the senior level of your customers approved ads based on semi-malware and blackhat SEO practices. [1]
On top of this lack of strong consumer protection laws does not automatically translate into a license to be a shithead (or partner with one that does) with somebody else’s search functions. The fact that an antivirus does not flag it up means jack shit. Conduit is indefensible, no user would ever agree to install that if they understood what that piece of software does.
We do not engage in dark patterns and deceptive, unethical practices, and avoid like the plague those who do (i.e. you).
So in short, fuck off and die.
-Rodolfo
PS. this thread is now posted on my blog – if you really feel compelled to respond (but please don’t) do so in public and not on my email. I really do not want to hear from you ever unless it’s a TechCrunch article that announces you stopping doing this shit.
On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 8:19 PM, John <@bittorrent.com> wrote:
Hi Rodolfo,
We don’t peddle Malware. While it is true that we work with Conduit as a search partner, we QA every advertiser that we choose to promote on our network. Our team verifies that the content is legal and runs against an anti-virus to see if viruses come up.It should also be noted that other torrent clients like Vuze also work with Conduit and other search partners. I state this because if you look at the Vuze client, you’ll notice that they’re advertising [x] in their “games” section, and your project is with [x].
While Vuze is a great product and a good torrent client, BitTorrent owns 80% of the torrent client market. So that’s why reached out to you and believe that a meet at [x] would be worth your time.Let me know if you’re available.Thanks,John
John email: @bittorrent.com cell: Skype:LinkedIN
On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 11:15 AM, Jason <@bittorrent.com> wrote:
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Rodolfo Rosini <@.com>
Date: Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 2:58 AM
Subject: Re: [x] – Let’s Meet
To: Jason <@bittorrent.com>
Thanks. We do not work with companies that peddle malware.
http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=141506
On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 8:06 AM, Jason <@bittorrent.com> wrote:
Hi Rodolfo,
I see that Storybricks will be attending [x]. We’d like to meet to talk about potential user acquisitions opportunities.
BitTorrent has a premium ad network that is owned-and-operated, which connects high quality advertisers to our sophisticated male audience of 170M users worldwide. We serve over 6 billion impressions/month, and run high volume user acquisition campaigns for game companies like Kabam, Kixeye, Bigpoint, and Covus Crobo.How’s your availability between the 3rd-5th?Thanks,Jason
—
Jason
BitTorrent, Inc.
303 2nd Street, S600
San Francisco, CA 94107
[1] Ok I can believe that one company that you list as customer did actually willingly engages in this kind of hanky-panky. That does not make it acceptable to me.
Whilst in Arrakis 