One week on and still no action

9 July 2008 - 23:49

One week has passed since I informed McAfee that SiteAdvisor was defaming my website by stating that it contained dangerous downloads when the virus it claimed to have found was in fact a false positive. And nothing has happened.

The day after I submitted my complaint I received the following, probably automated, response from a SiteAdvisor support person:

"Hello,

Thank you for contacting us and your interest in SiteAdvisor.

SiteAdvisor engineers will look into your issue, and will issue a change if it is deemed appropriate.

Thank you for your patience during this process.

Sincerely,

Jim
Avert Services
McAfee SiteAdvisor"

Since then, of course, Yahoo has begun publishing this libel on its search engine, and when contacted about it, refused to take any responsibility for it, telling me I had to resolve the matter through McAfee. McAfee has done precisely nothing.

Today I sent the following reply back to the SiteAdvisor support representative:

"It is one week since I reported this issue to you and there is still
no action. It is all very well asking me to be patient but it is not
your business that is being libelled. Furthermore we are receiving
almost no traffic from Yahoo! now that they are publishing a red
warning "Dangerous Downloads" against every search result from our
website, causing us actual harm to our business as well as damage to
our reputation.

It is plain for anyone to see that this incorrect rating given to my
site is the result of a false positive from your anti-virus software,
and I have expert witnesses who will stand up in court and verify that
if necessary.

I am aware of some larger companies who have had harmful ratings
resulting from false positives reversed within 24 hours so I know
perfectly well you can act quickly if you need to - presumably when
threatened with court action by lawyers. Is this really going to be
necessary?

Julian Moss, BSc.
Managing Director
Tech-Pro Ltd."

It seems to me that McAfee is riding roughshod over the webmaster community, taking its time (or making no effort at all, according to some webmasters) to respond to complaints that its ratings are unfair or not merited. It avoids the risk of damages by dealing immediately with any complaint that is presented through a lawyer, leaving the legions of small businesses, hobbyists and others whose sites have been maligned but who can't afford legal representation fuming with anger but powerless to do anything.

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one comment

Julian,

I feel really but for all this useless waste of time. mcafee should do something about it. I received same automated message when i contacted them for correcting yellow rating.

I cannot sue them in court like you if they give red rating for my website in future.
Manoj Shinde () (URL) - 10 July 2008 - 19:17

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