How to disable Explorer 6th Smart Tags?
Jean-Pierre Martel
Explorer will have its Smart Tags feature turned on, IE6 will add URLs
and other links to words within a Web pages. Existing Web pages, that is,
without the input nor the knowledge of the creator of the page.
That means that every instance of the word "database" or "table" in all
the issues of the dBulletin published so far could soon become a link to
an Access newsgroup or an Access Web page.
I have also learnt that an entry into a page's meta tag could prevent
Smart Tags from working. Does someone knows what is the code needed to
disable Smart Tags?
Jean-Pierre Martel, editor
The dBASE Developers Bulletin
Jørgen Feder
<nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
>Does someone knows what is the code needed to
>disable Smart Tags?
Hi Jean-Pierre,
You can disable Smart Tag recognition in Internet Explorer within a
Web page by adding a Meta tag to that Web page.
After adding this tag, any Smart Tags that the author has added to the
page will continue to work, but Internet Explorer will not dynamically
add new tags when users view the page.
The tag is:
<meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="TRUE">
Jørgen
Jean-Pierre Martel
says...
> > Does someone knows what is the code needed to
> > disable Smart Tags?
> <meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="TRUE">
Exactly what I needed! Thanks Jørgen.
Jean-Pierre Martel
says...
> I just have learnt that when people using version 6th of
> Internet Explorer will have its Smart Tags feature turned
> on, IE6 will add URLs and other links to words within a Web
> pages. Existing Web pages, that is, without the input nor
> the knowledge of the creator of the page.
Since our authors never intended to write articles that will become
vectors for the promotion of goods or services other than the ones
already in their document, any tags added to their article without their
consent is a breach of the Canadian copyright laws.
This is why I am seriously considering sending a formal notice to
Microsoft Canada to enjoin them to respect copyrights.
David Stone
<nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
>I just have learnt that when people using version 6th of Internet
>Explorer will have its Smart Tags feature turned on, IE6 will add URLs
>and other links to words within a Web pages. Existing Web pages, that is,
>without the input nor the knowledge of the creator of the page.
*Change* the actual _original_ web page on its server without
permission? Can this really be true?? It sounds too intrusive to
believe.
David
Chuck Orgel
news:3b7409e6...@news.dbase.com:
No. I believe it only changes it in the browser locally.
Chuck
Jean-Pierre Martel
news_...@orgels.net says...
>
> No. I believe it only changes it in the browser locally.
You are right. Explorer will change it locally. But there will be no
difference for our readers: all the links will seemed to be part of the
article and seemed to be wanted by the author.
This is a serious breach of Copyright Laws. It is certainly _not_ our
authors' intention that their articles should become vectors for the
promotional activities of Microsoft. Copyright Law were made to protect
the absolute integrity of an author's work.
Our articles were written benevolently. Our official distributors can't
display banners nor any other kind of promotional activity on our pages.
I see no reason why Microsoft should make money on the back of our
authors.
Jean-Pierre Martel
says...
>
> *Change* the actual _original_ web page on its server
> without permission? Can this really be true?? It sounds
> too intrusive to believe.
Let me quote the latest issue of PC Plus (September 2001, p.20): "...
this feature (Smart Tags) will add URLs and other links to words within
web pages. Existing web pages, that is, without the input (or even
knowledge) of the creator of the page." Actually, it will change the
_display_ of any web page in your browser as if you were looking at the
original text.
For example, that means that M$ could add links to every instances of the
words "dBASE" and "dB2K" in all the Web pages in the World seen through
Explorer6 in order to redirect visitors to some other pages promoting
FoxPro or Access software.
To quote again that same article in PC Plus: "...it appears that
Microsoft has finally taken leave of its corporate senses and launched an
all-out attack on freedom of expression, forcing millions of people to
receive their information - via the internet - in a form edited by
Microsoft and its partners. All with the tacit approval of the recipient,
and absolutely none from the publishers."
Colyn
<nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
>This is why I am seriously considering sending a formal notice to
>Microsoft Canada to enjoin them to respect copyrights.
This is absolute lunacy ... how the hell can they invent a module in
their software that will actuaully modify a writer's work ... now we
have to retro-fit all our websites to keep the pirates out ....
This is just one more indication of M$'s total disregard for anybody's
rights and another display of their bold and brutal disregard for
anything that do not belong to them ...
FOr this reason and this reason only ... I applaud the VIRUS Writers
that create monsters that f***k M$ products up ... the recent CODE RED
theing was once again so clearly aimed at IIS and IIS alone ...
May the gods smile on us and let us see a decent alternative OS during
this year ... LINUX is close but yet a way to go ...
That's right JP ... give them hell and if I can help ... just say the
word ...
In the mean time ... I am planting OPERA on every customer that I have
and most of them just love it ....
Greetings.
Colyn Serfontein
dB2K Webmaster
LinkAfrica Network
Acker Consulting Inc.
www.db2k.co.za
The home of the dB2K Developers Index
www.db2k.co.za
dB2K Network
www.vdbase.net
Visual dBase Network
www.vdb.cswebworx.com
VdBASE in action on the Web.
Jørgen Feder
<nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
>This is a serious breach of Copyright Laws. It is certainly _not_ our
>authors' intention that their articles should become vectors for the
>promotional activities of Microsoft. Copyright Law were made to protect
>the absolute integrity of an author's work.
The only decent way of implementing such a feature would be if the
user explicit chose to have such an feature activated. I my opinion
however it would must often seriously destroy the readability of a
webpage and quickly be just as much a hated feature as many of MS'
other socalled 'Helpers'.
Jørgen
Gary White [dBVIPS]
Colyn wrote in dbase.watercooler:
>FOr this reason and this reason only ... I applaud the VIRUS Writers
>that create monsters that f***k M$ products up ... the recent CODE RED
>theing was once again so clearly aimed at IIS and IIS alone ...
I think it's absolutely ludicrous for you, of all people, to laud that
kind infantile behavior. While I am strongly opposed to the so called
"smart tags", that in no way excuses the idiocy of the code red
freaks.
Gary White [dBVIPS]
http://www.apptools.com/dbase
Jean-Pierre Martel
says...
>
> That's right JP ... give them hell and if I can help ...
> just say the word ...
My formal notice was sent today by registered mail to Microsoft Canada.
The Canadian subsidiary was chosen since I don't have an easy access to
American tribunals, being a Canadian citizen.
Obviously, this is a 'David vs Goliath' battle: this is why I am
confident of success.<g>
Can you help? Of course you can: do what I did. If Microsoft receives
formal notices from thousands of different people, they will change their
mind sooner.
Jean-Pierre Martel, editor
The dBASE Developers Bulletin
P.S.- Would you like to see the formal notice I sent?
Colyn
<dBV...@usa.net> wrote:
It is thing like this that makes me see red when it comes to MS
Arrogance ...
Microsoft Appeals Ruling [CNN FN]
Microsoft on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a
federal appeals court ruling that the software company is an illegal
monopoly that hurt consumers and smothered the competition.
http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2001/08/07/technology/microsoft/index.htm
They are obviously of the opinion that they are untouchable ... as for
the virus thing ... if you have your AV and Firewall up to date ...
virus is not a problem ... if the virus ruins 900 million casuals ...
well, then it will be good because the casuals makes the numbers that
give MS the feeling of being above the law ...
Look at virus issues objective and then you will see that the most
notorius and most destructive ones are directly aimed at ...
1. OUTLOOK ....
2. IIS ....
... and for both there are excellent and superior alternatives ....
Ronnie MacGregor
In the dbase.watercooler newsgroup
Article <MPG.15de5913f...@news.dbase.com>
Jean-Pierre Martel nos...@nospam.com wrote :-
> P.S.- Would you like to see the formal notice I sent?
>
Yes
--
Ronnie MacGregor
Scotland
Jean-Pierre Martel
lugtonridgeKILLSPAM.co.uk says...
> Jean-Pierre Martel nos...@nospam.com wrote :-
> > P.S.- Would you like to see the formal notice I sent?
I will translate it today at work and publish it here tonight when I will
be back home. Thanks for your interest.
Gary White [dBVIPS]
Colyn wrote in dbase.watercooler:
>Look at virus issues objective and then you will see that the most
>notorius and most destructive ones are directly aimed at ...
>
>1. OUTLOOK ....
>2. IIS ....
>
>... and for both there are excellent and superior alternatives ....
So you are saying that justifies attacks on the _users_ of those
products? That is the most assinine thoughtlessness I've ever heard.
There is _nothing_ that justifies that kind of childish behavior.
Mario A. Trzesniowski
I have my share of problems with Microsoft products, just like everybody
else, but in my opinion it's obvious why Outlook and IIS are the main
targets for viruses. If I were a bright, intelligent and young hacker, I
would not waste my time on producing viruses for Opera, Eudora or BeOs,
or... because NOBODY uses them! If there are 900 million using Microsoft,
why would I bother to produce a virus for something that only 1 million are
using?. Microsoft products are aimed by almost all viruses just because
everybody use them! Now, exactly because of this, Microsoft SHOULD be
extremelly carefull on what they do!
The same way they have those spider programs chasing all over the WEB for
pirated versions of their products, they should have programs looking for
hacker comunications on the net and DO something about, and not pretend that
being this a very isolated information, it would not gain the general public
attention. One doesn't need many hackers to produce big destruction. An
example of bad move and pre-announced catastrophe is the issue on
"standardizing " the raw sockets on the next Windows XP. THIS is stupid!
NOBODY uses it, but the hackers will find a good use of it! Then, beside the
viruses, nobody will be able to trace where they came from, once the hackers
will be able to change the IP adresses before they put something on the net.
This is a MUCH more serious matter than the Smart Tags , an idea that's
actually not so new - FlySwat ( I think this is the way it's called) does
this for a long time!
On the other hand, there is absolutelly no excuse for anyone not having the
latest anti-virus software available, updated at least weekly! Even the free
ones can catch almost all viruses, at least the ones that cause big trouble.
So the 900 million users also have their share of responsibility.
mario
John L. Creed
Is it because 9 million people are using it, or is it because it is a
half-assed
product, with the key left in the front door? Really now...
check this out: http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/3647/1/
I didn't write that, also check out http://www.grc.com
I didn't say that either <g>
What I won't say here would make what Colyn said, look like a 3rd
graders love note to it's teacher <g>, trust me on that one ;-)
Just my 2 cents worth...
"Mario A. Trzesniowski" wrote:
>
> Colyn,
> I have my share of problems with Microsoft products, just like everybody
> else, but in my opinion it's obvious why Outlook and IIS are the main
> targets for viruses. If I were a bright, intelligent and young hacker, I
> would not waste my time on producing viruses for Opera, Eudora or BeOs,
> or... because NOBODY uses them! If there are 900 million using Microsoft,
> why would I bother to produce a virus for something that only 1 million are
> using?.
--
Regards,
John L. Creed
pcExpressWay Consulting
dBASE Gold Charter Member 210
http://www.pcexpressway.com
George Burt
-----
User Control
To enable Smart Tags on the Web pages you visit, you must first choose which
Smart Tags you'd like to see. Internet Explorer does not come with any Smart
Tags installed. Smart Tag packages are available from Microsoft and dozens
of other companies.
-----
Also, Smart tags do NOT look like ordinary links supplied by the Author.
Furthermore, Microsoft never intended the kind of hijacking of web pages
that has been the main thrust of this thread. I suppose they have only
themselves to blame as it flows from their past actions. Smart are good.
Not great, but good. They can provide a small improvement in the content of
web pages. I am sure that many, if not most will turn the feature off.
I think the really interesting thing is to watch the reaction to things
Microsoft is doing. Its hard to feel sorry for them, even when they are
receiving unfair criticism.
George Burt
"Jean-Pierre Martel" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.15dd23d3e...@news.dbase.com...
Jean-Pierre Martel
> Yes
Below is my (probably mediocre) translation of the formal notice sent to
Microsoft Canada.
UPDATE:
A) Microsoft says Smart Tags will not be implemented for now.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6399150.html
"(...) But a company spokesman said Wednesday that the technology will
not be included in the final version that will be released Oct. 25. (...)
'External feedback' was one of the factors that led the company to remove
the feature, although he indicated it could be resurrected in later
versions."
http://dgl.com/itinfo/2001/it010628.html
"(...) Smart Tags are now available in Internet Explorer 6; however, the
feature will be removed in the IE version due to ship with Windows XP."
Yet, Microsoft is still promoting the idea on their web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/ie/preview/smarttags/default.asp
B) In their actual implementation, Smart Tags look different from URLs:
"Rob Kennedy" <rken...@cs.wisc.edu>
Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001 20:16:35 -0500
Newsgroups: borland.public.delphi.non-technical
(...) "The Smart Tag links don't look like normal links. Of the few
screen shots I've seen, Smart Tag links have dotted underlines and bring
up menus--they don't go immediately to some other site."
C) If Smart Tags don't seem to have been discussed before in dBASE NGs,
there was a very interesting discussion in Delphi NGs. If you want a free
legal advice, click on this link:
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
and enter "Smart Tags" as the keyword, "borland.public.delphi.non-
technical" as the newsgroup name and "Lewis A. Mettler" as the author.
The MSGs in the thread "Need to exclude IE?" are specially interesting.
Since M$ will not implement it for now (if they are saying the truth), an
official notice can only be used in courts when Microsoft will have
implemented Smart Tags. Meanwhile, Official notices sent from thousands
of different people are probably a very good deterrent. Since no harm is
done for now, only an injunction can be taken for now to ensure they will
not be back with that idea later. Such an injunction is _very_ likely.
Jean-Pierre Martel, editor
The dBASE Developers Bulletin
/////////////////////////
Montréal, August 10th 2001
RECOMENDED MAIL
Microsoft Canada Inc.
320 Matheson Boulevard
West Mississauga
Ontario L5R 3R1
re: Formal notice about Copyrights
Aimed at helping dBASE developers and promoting the dBASE technology,
"The dBASE Developers Bulletin" is electronic magazine that has appeared
in May 1999. Up to this day, our magazine has released 12 issues and has
published more than 70 articles. Moreover, our distribution network is
made of 10 web sites spread on four Continents.
Canada http://www.jpmartel.com/bulletin.htm
France http://www.fghoche.com/dbulletin/bulletin.htm
Germany http://www.tnm.de/dbulletin/bulletin.htm
Italy http://www.intrasoft.it/db2kit/bulletin.htm
New Zealand http://www.compkarori.com/dbase/bulletin.htm
South Africa http://www.prorisk.co.za/dbulletin/bulletin.htm
Sweden http://www.sakia.se/dbulletin/bulletin.htm
U.S.A. - I http://www.staubassociates.com/dbase/bulletin.htm
U.S.A.- II http://www.dbase.com/knowledgebase/dbulletin/bulletin.htm
U.S.A.-III http://www.nuwermj.potsdam.edu/dBulletin/bulletin.htm
In order to be accepted as an official distributors, no banner, nor any
other form of promotional activity can be added to the pages of our
magazine.
We have learnt recently that the next version of Internet Explorer will
add URLs and other links to words in the web pages seen through that
browser. The user will have the choice to allow or not these "Smart Tags"
but the site he will be sent if he clicks on a link added to our pages,
is left to the discretion of your Company. You could send our readers to
sites dedicated to competitive software and even get revenues from that
promotional activity.
This was certainly not the intention of our authors to write articles
that would become vectors for the promotion of goods and services others
than the ones stated on purpose in the documents they wrote for our
magazine.
Grounded on Copyright Laws, we formally forbid your company to abuse of
its monopoly position by altering in any manner whatsoever the text of
any article published in our magazine, unless you get a written
authorization from its author. If you don't respect this formal notice,
Microsoft will have to pay the total cost of adding a meta tag to our
articles in order to protect the integrity of the content of these
documents. Finally, we won't hesitate to ask for an exemplary and
dissuasive punishment for that gross abuse of power.
Jean-Pierre Martel
> Smart Tags are good. They can provide a small improvement in the
> content of web pages.
Never can you change the initial publication prior to being read by
those permitted by the author or publisher to read it. That is the
exclusive right of the publisher. Do you really want others to change
your posts on here before read by others?
IMHO, Microsoft's actual implementation of Smart Tags is a Troyan Horse.
Give them the right to alter the Web pages you requested before you read
them and guess what will happen later: Microsoft's total control on free
expression over the web.
Freedom of expression is not something that was given to the people. The
people had to fight to get it. Do you remember how some big corporations
were afraid to talk against Microsoft to the Department of Justice,
fearing of retaliation? Did you ever see an employee from Microsoft
criticising publicly that Company? Probably that most of the people in
your country believe that a company has the right to fire one of its
employees who does that. When M$ will have invested directly or
indirectly in every major company in your country, guess what will be
your freedom of expression.
Colyn
<dBV...@usa.net> wrote:
assinine --- I object to ...
thoughtlessness --- I can live with ...
Ken Mayer [dBASE, Inc.]
>targets for viruses. If I were a bright, intelligent and young hacker, I
>would not waste my time on producing viruses for Opera, Eudora or BeOs,
>or... because NOBODY uses them! If there are 900 million using Microsoft,
Nobody? Eudora is the most popular Windows-based mail software out
there besides Outlook.
Ken
---
Ken Mayer [dBASE, Inc.]
** Please respond ONLY in the newsgroups **
"Think OOP"
dBASE, Inc. website: http://www.dbase.com
Gary White [dBVIPS]
Colyn wrote in dbase.watercooler:
>assinine --- I object to ...
No more strongly than I object to condoning writing and distributing a
virus.
Colyn
<dBV...@usa.net> wrote:
>>assinine --- I object to ...
>
>No more strongly than I object to condoning writing and distributing a
>virus.
Ok ... then I will remember the next time that you comment on topic or
subject and speak you mind ... to attack your person and not merely
differ from you ...
Gary White [dBVIPS]
Colyn wrote in dbase.watercooler:
>>No more strongly than I object to condoning writing and distributing a
>>virus.
>
>Ok ... then I will remember the next time that you comment on topic or
>subject and speak you mind ... to attack your person and not merely
>differ from you ...
This is going nowhere. Why don't we just drop it.
Colyn
<kma...@dbase.com> wrote:
>Nobody? Eudora is the most popular Windows-based mail software out
>there besides Outlook.
True and kind of amazing that we never read in the news or see on TV
that Eudora users have been trashed by such and such a virus ... maybe
it is because the publishers of Eudora is responsible enough to
protect their users and do not leave gaping holes into their systems
..
Has anyone noticed that IE regularly logs you onto the MS server ? ...
apparently to look for updates but never finding any ... what is this
... other than a virus under MS control ...
I am actually very comprehensive by IE 6 claim that it is a FULL
PRODUCT ... the Lord only knows what in heavens did the MS Engineers
hide in the megatons of code ... I am almost willing to bet that if
you tighten your firewall and proxy settings up ... IE 6 will not run
...
I have read about large user blocks like government departments etc.
that have changed over to STAR OFFICE ... good for them and us ... the
sooner we break the MS strangle hold on us the better ...
I had the opportunity to REVIEW an IIS Shell that clamps the security
issues down big time ... to my surprise I found that it would not run
if VISUAL STUDIO is not present ... I reported this to the publishers
and received a long e-mail from the project leader ... very apologetic
and obviously extremely annoyed ... they promised a mod within 14 days
and between the lines I could read that some programmer is going to
get his arse kicked ...
I sense a general move in the IT world that points to a strong
movement to bypass MS products as much as possible and what is very
prominent is that almost every new product that we are offered to
review includes a LINUX version ... so, we may have an alternative to
Windows sooner than we think ...
Paul Franks
nos...@nospam.com says...
> Give them the right to alter the Web pages you requested before you read
> them and guess what will happen later: Microsoft's total control on free
> expression over the web.
>
>
This is a trivial concern. I'm more worried some evil bastard could
exploit a security hole and use smart tags to execute malicious code...
--
Paul Franks
dBASE UK Ltd
email: uks...@dbase.com
Mail: dBASE UK Ltd, 30 Hamilton St, Birkenhead, CH41 5AD
Phone/Fax: 0151 647 2396
Paul Franks
kma...@dbase.com says...
> Nobody? Eudora is the most popular Windows-based mail software out
> there besides Outlook.
>
Yup, but Eudora does not have massive security holes. It makes life too
difficult for the script kiddies, MS is an easier target.
Mario A. Trzesniowski
version which can be used OK in Brazil). True - many bussinesses and
government agencies are starting to use it in Brasil - even a State passed a
law demanding all its agencies to use it. But as most of the e-mails
attachments come in a bunch of Microsofts formats, the Star Office sometimes
doesn't handles them very well. I always can find my way thru, but not my
wife. And, really this is my point - we can work it out. The general public
can't. If someone needs one program to read e-mails, another one for news
groups, another for reading HTML and yet other ones for oppening attachments
and on and on - well most people can't deal with that so they'll stick to
the all in one : it's not the best but for them it's good enough!
And for what it's worth, I'm not deffending Microsoft. I don't like Windows
, active setup, windows updates and so on. The last Microsoft's product that
I disliked less was DOS 5.0, but unfortunatelly, they have these 900 million
clients and, for a while, this is a trend hard to reverse, 'though it seems
Microsoft is trying hard...
mario
"Colyn" <co...@linkafrica.net> escreveu na
Ken Mayer [dBASE, Inc.]
>In article <7u9dntghndt7245ms...@4ax.com>,
>kma...@dbase.com says...
>> Nobody? Eudora is the most popular Windows-based mail software out
>> there besides Outlook.
>>
>
>Yup, but Eudora does not have massive security holes. It makes life too
>difficult for the script kiddies, MS is an easier target.
Yes, but I was just correcting a rather massive blanket statement that
noone uses Eudora. I heartily recommend it ...
David Kerber
Colyn wrote:
...
> I have read about large user blocks like government departments etc.
> that have changed over to STAR OFFICE ... good for them and us ... the
Yes, the U.S. Dept of Defense (There aren't many organizations bigger
than that).
....
--
Dave Kerber
Edit the return address by removing the ns_ before e-mailing
This message was entirely written using recycled electrons.
REAL programmers write self-modifying code, leading to:
Why there is ALWAYS one more bug (courtesy of O.D. Williams):
1. Debuging code is always much harder than writing it.
2. Therefore, if your code is as clever as you are capable of making
it, you are, by definition, inadequate to debug it.
Gary White [dBVIPS]
Colyn wrote in dbase.watercooler:
>Ok ... then I will remember the next time that you comment on topic or
>subject and speak you mind ... to attack your person and not merely
>differ from you ...
Re-reading your message above, I'd like to clarify my earlier remark:
>That is the most assinine thoughtlessness I've ever heard.
My "attack" was intended to be on your comment about virus authorship &
distribution, not on you personally. I certainly don't know you well
enough to say very much about you personally. I can honestly say that I
agree with a lot of what you write in the news groups, but strongly
disagree on the virus issue. I apologize if it seemed to be an attack on
you personally.
Currently, my firewall is rejecting between 300 and 400 probes per day, the
vast majority of which are from within my service provider's block of I/P
addresses. Those are presumably code red probes.
I, personally, have never suffered any irreparable damage from a virus.
However, I do remember Alan Katz losing many irreplaceable images because
of a virus. In cases like this, it is the user who suffers; not Microsoft.
I was absolutely shocked that you, a WPP with much more to lose than a
typical user, would condone that type of activity and honestly thought I
had misunderstood you. Since I seem to have interpreted your comments
correctly, I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.
Van
the final release of Windows XP, but Office XP still includes them. A lot of
focus is being put on Windows XP, but let's not forget the other Microsoft
products that may install unwanted programs onto our systems.
Van