MSN blocks Hardware.Info

For a while now it has been impossible to send or receive URLs of Hardware.Info in Microsoft Windows Live Messenger. Quite annoying, as right now you cannot pass on links to Hardware.Info articles through this popular instant messaging program. Of course we asked Microsoft MSN for an explanation. Below you will find the literal response we received.

In order to prevent the spread of a malicious advertising effort that included Windows Live Messenger accounts as targets, Microsoft took steps to block instant messages that include the words ".info" and a few additional key words to protect our customers. The targeted accounts were sent either .info or another URL, which led to a website asking them to provide their Windows Live user id and password. If the customer provided that information, the user's complete contact list also received a message with the domain site link. This was not a Microsoft sponsored effort, and in order to prevent the spread of it through our service, instant messages that include the words ".info" and a few additional key words have been blocked. This action may block some safe, reputable sites and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers, however, given the circumstances this action was necessary. In an effort to remedy this moving forward, Microsoft continues to investigate other ways to protect our consumers from this threat.

While of course it is commendable that Microsoft protects users from malicious websites that seek to deceive visitors, the methods employed are so disproportionate in scope, that sites which do operate in good faith are badly affected as wel. We find it hard to imagine Microsoft would apply such drastic measures against .com or .co.uk extensions. Nevertheless at this time it appears to be impossible to lift the restriction, although Microsoft does indicate the list of blocked extensions is open to change. So we can only hope it will be possible to send Hardware.Info URLs through this messenger in the future.

Tags: messenger msn

Post to Slashdot Digg this Add to del.icio.us