IE7 Blocking Google Image Search?

An anonymous reader writes, "I just tried a Google Image Search in IE7 for the first time. Whenever I click on an image, my browser tells me in big bold letters, "This is a reported phishing website." Try it yourself: make sure automatic phishing detection is turned on and do an (adorable) image search; click on one of the result thumbnails. MSN Live Image Search has no such issues. Insert Microsoft evil conspiracy theory here." I get this behavior under IE7, Win XP Pro, SP2, Parallels, Mac OS X.

And your point is?

Nothing to see here move on...

Re:And your point is?

Can you say anything if you just ask? [youtube.com]

Well, maybe...

... maybe it really WAS a phishing website that he thought was The Google. Maybe, just maybe IE7 actually protected him in his search for adorable pussies.

Strange

I just tried it. Works fine.

Re:Strange

Same here. I spent hours last night looking for pictures of the adorable Scarlett Johansen, and had no problem doing so. Only problem I had was getting things to come up.

I think not

Seems to work well (properly) for me

Can't duplicate

Vista RC1 and XP Pro SP2. Not able to duplicate. Methinks PEBKAC.

Re:Can't duplicate

Or the "10D/0t" problem.

Indeed.

OMG CUTE

OMG KITTENS!!!!!

So, basically any page with frames containing other pages is evil now? Thank you, MS.

Never ascribe to malice that which can be

explained by incompetence.

Its obviously not in their interest to incorrectly block google images. All it will do is make people not trust the phishing stuff, and turn it off. Incomptent maybe, but they aren't stupid enough to think that people would just stop using google images when they get blocked and use msn instead.

Re:Never ascribe to malice that which can be

Yet sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice...

The real conspiracy theory

Guys, can't you see it, this article is a cunning plot by the Evil Empire to produce 3,000 /. posts saying "IE7 is fine"? How devious can you get? Stick to Firefox, and then you'll never get suckered like this!

Your Search

Perhaps MS is afraid of all felines.

Lynx [wikipedia.org],
Cheetahs [wikipedia.org],
Pumas [wikipedia.org],
Jaguars [wikipedia.org],
Panthers [wikipedia.org],
Tigers [wikipedia.org],
Leopards [wikipedia.org]

Re:Your Search

What, no pussy?

If you plan on staying at slashdot you should get use to that saying.

PEBKAC

That's Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair for those that haven't see the acronym. I have XP SP2 here and IE7 is in a basically default state since I use FF. Tried GIS and explicitly asked it to check and it reports "this is not a phishing webstie". It says that both for the main GIS page and after I did an actual search.

Remember folks: FUD, it's not just from MS anymore!

Seriously I wish people would stop with the crap but I really wish /. would not post things like this without verification.

Re:Users should understand how Internet works?!

kittens and puppies are *never* innocent. They're responsible for more than you know... if we drop our guard then they'll enslave the world.

Meanwhile a bigger conspiracy is afoot

...the URL and query string and hence everything you are Googling for being passed to Microsoft's servers. Think of all those Google searches (and the following immediate clicks) Microsoft could extrapolate and use to improve their own search engine...

Re:Meanwhile a bigger conspiracy is afoot

No. According to MSDN, only URLs that are not common are sent to the Microsoft server for verification. This list of not-common URLs sit on your machine, and even then only the base of the URL is sent to Microsoft for analysis.

Here's the blurb from MSDN [msdn.com]:

Phishing Filter does not check every URL on the Microsoft server. It only sends those which are not on a known list of OK sites or those that appear suspicious based on heuristics. If an URL is checked on the Microsoft server, first the URL is stripped down to the path to help remove personal information, then the remaining URL is sent over a secure SSL connection. The communication with the Microsoft server is done asynchronously so that there is little to no effect on your browsing experience.

So, for example, if you were to visit http://www.msn.com/ [msn.com] nothing will be checked on the Microsoft server because "msn.com" and other major websites are on the client-side list of OK sites. However, let's say the URL looked like this: http://207.68.172.246/result.aspx?u=Tariq&p=Tariq [207.68.172.246]' sPassword, in this scenario phishing filter will remove the query string to help protect my privacy but it will send "http://207.68.172.246/result.aspx" to be checked by the Microsoft Server because 207.68.172.246 is not on the allow list of OK sites. As it turns out, 207.68.172.246 is just the IP address of MSN.com server, so its not a phishing site but this example should help you understand more about how Phishing Filter checks sites on the server.

But thanks for spreading the FUD.

Slow news day...

This is a slow news day isn't it? Still, kitten searches are all good.

Look, somebody probably reported the Google Images header as a phishing website. Microsoft have probably since removed it from their phishing database. I'm sure they're refining the phishing technology so that websites require multiple reports before they enter the phishing database as we speak.

But you kiddies can release all the conspiracy stories you want.

Slashdot special

A good example when someone who has found anything in IE7 gets a headlight... even without checking. Either due to frames or not replicable by anyone but the author.. still.. OMG... its an IE7 error.. so it's got to be posted! Talk about conspiracy theries

Re:Works great here

As usual, this story is posted by our good friend kdawson, the editor who thought the Enlightenment icon was a state of being.