Black box URLs
URL shorteners have been all the rage for the last few years now due to the rise of Twitter and other character-limited communications systems, where traditional URLs with their “http://www.” can’t help but waste space. But while these short URLs do indeed save space, their drawbacks were illustrated very personally when I friend of mine had a Facebook account hacked to post shortened URLs to virus and spam sites. The problem is that you can’t possibly know where a shortened URL will take you, nor are there any suspicious patterns that you would be able to pick up on. For example:
Normal URLs
Legit:
- www.google.com
- www.paypal.com
Fraud/phishing/virus/junk:
- http://cash4u2nite.ru
- http://188.221.3.88
Shortened URLs
Legit:
- http://bit.ly/14d7yE
- http://tinyurl.com/oex2e
Fraud/phishing/virus/junk:
- http://ow.ly/Dhdo
- http://tr.im/Fckc
See the problem? It’s impossible for even a seasoned internet-goer to tell which of the shortened URLs lead to unsafe websites. We’ve all gotten used to clicking on these anonymous links without having any idea where they’ll take us. And this is all in addition to the problem of link rot as the shortening services go belly-up once their backers discover there’s no money to be made in it. Just say no!
November 29th, 2009 at 4:03 am
Cool post. Like the in English! Is this not the funniest on the internet? Check it out!
http://shorl.com/prudykyvetraku