The PR Pain — Blog First, Test Later
September 3rd, 2006
Did you hear of browzar this week? The less than 300K download was suddenly the answer to completely safe browsing!Â
Ummm, no.  It’s a wrapper for Internet Explorer that tries to delete your privacy information as you surf.  Scott Hanselman discovered very quickly that it does not even do that very well.Â
It also redirects all a user’s searches to overture. Wow, that’s like spyware 101.
A few people bought it hook, line and sinker:
- China Martens, InfoWorld
- Martin McKeay, ComputerWorld
- Jordan Running, Download Squad
- Michael Pick, RobinGood
- Sam Sethi, TechCrunch UK
- Rafe Needleman, cnet
- Digg promoted it to the front page; however, users were quick to start commenting on its true nature.
- Slashdot posted about it as well. Users there started discussing its status quickly as well.
So what started this wave of browzar pain? A press release! Yes, many of these high-profile bloggers saw the press release and posted about it as soon as possible.Â
So who is more to blame: Ajaz Ahmed for releasing this junk or the bloggers who repeated his propoganda?