[Hidden-tech] Why I will never buy Lenovo products again

[Jan Werner]

Browser hijackers are programs designed to steal from online merchants, 
and from sites that depend on advertising and click-throughs for income, 
by intercepting and redirecting their Web traffic.  That is not at all 
the same as using information collected in profiles and databases to 
serve ads or steer users to specific sellers.

Microsoft’s own Safety & Security Center puts it bluntly: “Browser 
hijacking is a type of online fraud.“

http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/browser-hijacking.aspx

Superfish is a browser hijacker.

An unfortunate side effect of price competition is that manufacturers 
feel the need to increase their income by selling rights to preload all 
kinds of junk software on the systems they sell. But there are limits to 
what even the most craven companies can expect to get away with.

I can believe that the responsible people at Lenovo were so incompetent 
as not to realize that Superfish compromised the integrity of their 
user’s systems. What is unforgivable is that the company would even 
consider installing software whose only purpose is to commit fraud.

Lenovo’s CTO has apologized for “messing up,” not for the fundamental 
dishonesty of the company’s actions.  As far as I am concerned, that is 
simply not enough. Except for one mini HTPC, all the Windows computers I 
have owned and used for many years were made by Lenovo, but I will never 
buy any of their products again.

Jan Werner