"They Are Stealing Your Visitors With Smart Tags!"

Did you know that your web site is now covered with "Smart
Tag" links that can whisk your hard earned visitors away to
your competitors web site?

This is the same thing as stealing your visitors because you
happen to make use of a keyword or phrase that is tagged
by this new technology.

Microsoft originated the "Smart Tags" in their Windows
XP operating systems beta version.

They are a feature of Internet Explorer that "ADDS" smart
links to pages everyone views. They enable real-time,
dynamic recognition of content on Web pages and offer
your visitors, "relevant options", as they surf.

In other words, they place links, on YOUR WEB SITE, to
destinations other than your web page. Including, if they
pay for the privilege, to your competition!

Smart tags, which are created using XML (Extensible
Markup Language), look different from other links.

Microsoft "Smart Tags" are purple and white dash underlines
on a word linking you to a menu of info about that word.

However, due to HUGE public pressure, the Smart Tag feature
will not exist in the final version of Internet Explorer 6, due out
later this year.

Yet, it does remain a feature within Microsoft's Office XP, the
upgrade to Microsoft's suite of applications that launched May 31.

The feature gives Microsoft unfair advantage because they can
use these products to redirect users to MSN owned web
sites or to sites that have paid Microsoft a premium for the
service.

Worse still, the further use and development of this
technology is being encouraged by Microsoft.

When this first came out, there was a solution that
could prevent invasion of your site by adding the
following tag to your code:

.

However, this code is useless against these third party
developers, in particular, KaZaa, http://www.kazaa.com/.

KaZaa has already been downloaded 5.4 million times
from CNET.

BTW, although we did download the software for evaluation
in writing this article, our research revealed many people
dissatisfied with KaZaa because it is extremely difficult to
remove it from your computer.

KaZaa is apparently tapping advertisers to pay for keywords
which will cause a link to show up on your web site!

When the keyword is found, KaZaa links show up with a
yellow squiggle underline that appears highlighted when
your mouse passes over them on your site.

Unauthorized, and certainly unwanted, links now exist all
over your web site because of the use of this technology.

This technology makes it possible for you to link to other
web sites that you would never dream of being associated
with, possibly even to pornographic web sites or other
such unseemly members of the Internet community.

KaZaa is already being brought to task and several merchants
and Internet entrepreneurs have either filled suit or plan to do so.

All of these actions come in an effort to stem the tide of such
intrusive and unauthorized use of web site content, that is
copyrighted, and that you have spent your time and hard
earned money in order to create.

We will have to wait to see if Microsoft is thrown into the mix
for having developed this technology strategy in the first place.