Can Microsoft SmartScreen be sued?

Can Microsoft SmartScreen be sued for showing red flagged sites if
there is nothing wrong with the site? When you red flag a site, then you
are telling everyone surfing that there is something wrong with the site;
I seriously would think if there is nothing wrong with the site, then this
could quickly turn into a legal issue for Microsoft SmartScreen.

 

Google do something similar. I'm sure they could be sued, but who is going to take them on? Their get-out will probably be that their site is just an opinion and they are not stopping anyone visiting that site. It's like a credit agency making decisions about a company that can affect their ability to borrow, or anti-spam lists that list IPs that (maybe) aren't directly involved in sending spam. If your pockets are deep enough it might be worth a shot, but I wouldn't fancy your chances.

If I owned a site like this I'd be wanting to know why it was listed and what I needed to do to have it removed. As long as there is a mechanism for getting the listing removed then I wouldn't be too concerned. You never know, it might actually be correct and find something wrong before you do.

One of our email servers once got listed on a couple of anti-spam lists. Not because spam was being sent but because our firewalls translated that mailserver's - and some web servers' IP - to that of the firewalls on outgoing email connections (an oversight!), and they thought that was suspicious behaviour. This obviously caused chaos for couple of hours with emails being bounced, but when we realized what was happening it gave us a chance to fix the problem and be seen as a responsible host in their eyes. I didn't like getting listed, but these companies made is easy to deal with the problem, were helpful in telling us what the issue was, and removed it immediately once we'd explained what happened and fixed the problem. I'd rather work in this way and save myself a few hundred thousand by not fighting them in the court with all the stress that would entail.

 

And besides, you'd probably have to demonstrate how exactly you were "harmed" by this
action. It's not always easy proving that, much more material ones.

 

This is no different them some defamation case. They are basically lying by saying a website has malware when
in fact it does not. This is not like, well that person has an option to continue or not, thats dumb, if they are giving
a false red flag, they are telling people not to continue...of course your not going to continue once you see that...

If I told you the bridge would fall if you step on it, would you step on it? Of course its your option, but would you?

defamation in itself is harm.

I am not even sure why Microsoft would even want to jump into this liable pool of fire.

Any common since web server would of course have some type of malware protection in place.

What if their alarms went off on some million dollar site, then what? no virus, but microsoft
is saying malware was reported, so is it still no big deal? Yea, I am sure a million dollar
site would not mind if their traffic was run off because of this huge reg flag displaying on
the screen, gee what the hell am I thinking, why would they care at all about that...

 

You are right, i would like to know why my brand new site is red-flagged. It says because "your site was reported"
does this mean that I can just go around reporting whatever site i want and say there is malware on it? so without
some type of investigation, they just red-flag the site? sounds liable and risky....If you are going to defame someone
then I guess you should also be responsible for your actions, and be prepared to backup your false claims....

aka, making false claims, libel/slander, etc...

 

You would need to investigate the service in more detail if you arent even sure how it operates. Also look at all the T&Cs and disclaimers/warnings on the site.

You could attempt a deformation case, ie libel as it is written not spoken, but Microsoft have a lot more money than you to spend on lawyers than you there is a realistic chance that they can simply tie things up in legalities until you run out of money to pay your lawyers.

 

If this gets big enough you could always try a class-action suit or threaten Microsoft with bad publicity. Then again, Microsoft doesn't have a track record of bothering to maintain its image.

 

at this point; I have contacted my hosting provider, which is not doing anything to help, he just refereed me back to Microsoft, so i guess he does not want to get in the
middle, so does he seem to be concerned with any malware since he is not really stepping up to the plate, after all, this is on his server....

Norton shows a green light, nothing found.

I also ran external virus/malware scan on the site, nothing found.

So I am not sure what they know that I do not, or if it is just a plain false flag.

Microsoft needs to get their shit together....

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/SmartScreen-Filter-frequently-asked-questions-IE9

 

I have already found their links couple days ago, and have already reported the site safe at least twice.

still flagged....

 

That's bad news. Being incorrectly flagged by "accident" is one thing, but having legitimate requests for removal ignored or not dealt with quickly is another thing altogether.

Just to be sure, have you checked it isn't some local cache on your computer that is causing you to still show as flagged? If there isn't, and you've used the mechanism they provide to remove incorrect listings, then your legal case gets a lot stronger. Whether legal action is a wise move is another thing altogether and has to be your decision. I hope you get it sorted - quickly.

 

It's not always easy proving that, much more material ones.

 

At this point, I am not really sure what is going on...

1: I have been on two different computers that show me as flagged.
2: One person has confirmed that he saw the flag also.
3: One person claims they do not see the flag flag.
4: One person says I have a virus displaying a false-positive.

I have run two anti-virus with negative results
I have run a web anti virus with negative results
Norton shows my site has clean.
Another site used to check for malware, neg results.

I have even updated to IE 9 - I still see RED....

I am not sure what to do next....

 

check for php viruses, look through your php code see if there is a lot of random crap in there and then start looking for a solution. First take some time learning about security then how those flaws appear, just because you run norton on your computer does not mean there is not a problem. My first steps would be to look at any php programs then I would upload my backup or call my hosting company to see if they can take a look at it and a lot of them can upload a backup for free, just because you have not found it does not mean there is not a problem after thorough research if a problem is not found and you backups do not succeed then I would consider legal action, document everything if you take legal action.