Viruslike Game Annoys AIM Users

A new Web-based game that lets players pretend to catch Osama bin Laden is annoying some America Online Instant Messenger users with its viruslike self-promotion.

The new game, called Osama Found, grabs names from a user's AOL Instant Messenger address book and automatically sends those users instant messages with links to a Web page where the game can be downloaded.

America Online is aware of the problem and is considering legal action against the maker of the game, according to Andrew Weinstein, an AOL spokesperson.

Osama Found is not a virus or an Instant Message worm, but an example of what some call adware, Weinstein says. Such software runs in the background on a computer and can be used by marketers to display advertisements and promotions on a user's desktop.

Users Complain

AOL Instant Messenger users across the U.S. have reported receiving messages from correspondents (or "buddies") with links to the game's Web site. Internet users who visit the site are prompted to install the small program, or applet, and play the game.

Once installed, the program allows the game's maker, PSD Tools of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to send out what it describes as "additional content such as, but not limited to, advertisements and promotional messages to your computer and programs that may alter your home page to offer you content," according to a terms-and-conditions document that accompanies the installation program.

Also hidden in the terms and conditions for installing the program is language that allows the software to "interoperate with your current instant messaging client so as to permit the automatic sending of advertising messages originating from your Computer to your contact or 'buddy' list."

That may violate AOL's terms of service, Weinstein says. Those terms prohibit using AIM products to send unsolicited bulk communications or to authorize others to use an AIM account to do so, Weinstein says.

AOL is investigating legal steps it can take to halt distribution of the game.

"We think this is a slimy piece of adware that we want to protect our users from," he says.

AOL suspects that the adware targets only AOL Instant Messenger users, and the company plans to update its Instant Messenger home page with a warning about the adware and tips on how to remove it, Weinstein says.

Virus Squad Investigates

Network Associates also received reports of the game Tuesday and Wednesday.

Antivirus researchers at NAI's McAfee antivirus unit studied the Find Osama game, and they agree that it is not a virus or a Trojan horse program, says Craig Schmugar, virus research manager.

The Find Osama game is similar in design to the so-called "friend-greetings" incident from 2002, he says. In that case, an e-mail message inviting users to retrieve an online greeting card from the Friend Greetings site tricked many e-mail users into installing an adware application.

The ruse demonstrates the importance of reviewing end-user license agreements carefully before installing a new software program. It also underscores the danger of downloading and installing unsolicited software, Weinstein says.