Opinionated pundit Bill Thompson says:
Yet I only found out about the problem when a kind reader e-mailed me to tell me that Google was warning prospective visitors that my blog might “harm” their computer.
as opposed to their lives. Reading some of his material you have to ask yourself “Will I ever get those two minutes back?” Like todays article which is kindly syndicated worldwide by the BBC at license payer expense.
Turns out some hacker or bot compromised his version of WordPress and left him spreading software malice around the world. As a result his Google rank had an advisory that his site may include malicious software). This turns into a negative advert for a company that removes bad rankings from Google. On the BBC. Don’t I pay a license to avoid this shit?
He’s pissed with them because:
I had to e-mail them three times before I got a reply, and had to wait 10 days for that, and even then there was no information on exactly what Google had found on my site, so I had to search myself.
Yes, god forbid that a self-describing technology critic should actually have to find the problem himself and be required to maintain his own servers. I visit my own sites regularly, Bill, in order to make sure that I’m not spreading malware. Make it part of your routine.
Your article is whining that they didn’t treat you as a celebrity. And so you take the time to shout and scream on your blog, syndicated onto the BBC, about the poor service you received? Aren’t we feeling a little bit self-important here?
Now I’m not a journalist. I don’t get paid to write this (indeed, who would pay for this drivel) and I’m certainly not invited to wine and cheese parties with Apple and Microsoft. MY big mouth and stupid opinions have gotten me into hot water before and I’m sure they will again.
In addition, he calls for official processing of spam and malware listings too
Part of me would like to see this sort of listing done by the appropriate authorities, perhaps even the police, with some degree of judicial overview and a formal appeals process.
Hang on, that’s taxpayer money. To help do the thing that private companies are already doing?
P.S. The net vigilantes are the people who added the malware to your blog. Not the people who offer to help you clean it up. They’re providing a service that you can do yourself, but choose not to