"They Are Stealing Your Visitors With Smart Tags!"
By A.T.Rendon
Posted Sunday, October 10, 2004
Did you know that your web site is now covered with "Smart Tag" links that can whisk your hard earned visitors away to your competitors web site?
This is the same thing as stealing your visitors because you happen to make use of a keyword or phrase that is tagged by this new technology.
Microsoft originated the "Smart Tags" in their Windows XP operating systems beta version.
They are a feature of Internet Explorer that "ADDS" smart links to pages everyone views. They enable real-time, dynamic recognition of content on Web pages and offer your visitors, "relevant options", as they surf.
In other words, they place links, on YOUR WEB SITE, to destinations other than your web page. Including, if they pay for the privilege, to your competition!
Smart tags, which are created using XML (Extensible Markup Language), look different from other links.
Microsoft "Smart Tags" are purple and white dash underlines on a word linking you to a menu of info about that word.
However, due to HUGE public pressure, the Smart Tag feature will not exist in the final version of Internet Explorer 6, due out later this year.
Yet, it does remain a feature within Microsoft's Office XP, the upgrade to Microsoft's suite of applications that launched May 31.
The feature gives Microsoft unfair advantage because they can use these products to redirect users to MSN owned web sites or to sites that have paid Microsoft a premium for the service.
Worse still, the further use and development of this technology is being encouraged by Microsoft.
When this first came out, there was a solution that could prevent invasion of your site by adding the following tag to your code:
.
However, this code is useless against these third party developers, in particular, KaZaa, (http://www.kazaa.com/).
KaZaa has already been downloaded 5.4 million times from CNET.
BTW, although we did download the software for evaluation in writing this article, our research revealed many people dissatisfied with KaZaa because it is extremely difficult to remove it from your computer.
KaZaa is apparently tapping advertisers to pay for keywords which will cause a link to show up on your web site!
When the keyword is found, KaZaa links show up with a yellow squiggle underline that appears highlighted when your mouse passes over them on your site.
Unauthorized, and certainly unwanted, links now exist all over your web site because of the use of this technology.
This technology makes it possible for you to link to other web sites that you would never dream of being associated with, possibly even to pornographic web sites or other such unseemly members of the Internet community.
KaZaa is already being brought to task and several merchants and Internet entrepreneurs have either filled suit or plan to do so.
All of these actions come in an effort to stem the tide of such intrusive and unauthorized use of web site content, that is copyrighted, and that you have spent your time and hard earned money in order to create.
We will have to wait to see if Microsoft is thrown into the mix for having developed this technology strategy in the first place.
About the Author
A.T.Rendon is an entrepreneur and published writer. Subscribe to FREE Business Classifieds Newsletter & receive FREE online access to our Password Protected "FREE Submit To Over 2.7 MILLION FREE Ad Sites!" mailto:subscribe_fbcn9@emailexchange.org Visit us at: (http://emailexchange.org/?articles)
