Trusted Third Party Guidelines

Those companies or organizations that contribute to the Badware Website Clearinghouse are called trusted third parties. Although each trusted third party has its own guidelines for determining what sites to submit to the Clearinghouse, these guidelines are generally consistent with StopBadware's own Software and Website Guidelines. StopBadware does not independently test or review the sites provided by trusted third parties unless there is a request for review; rather, StopBadware merely hosts the lists of badware websites provided by third parties. However, when StopBadware reviews the inclusion of websites in the Clearinghouse (see our Request for Review form here), we evaluate sites based on StopBadware's Guidelines.

Google flags sites that cause involuntary installation of software or deceive users into installing malicious software. This includes:

• Sites that can cause involuntary installation of software on unprotected or unpatched machines. For example, hacked sites with code that attempts to secretly install software when a user visits the site.
• Sites that deceive users into installing malicious software. For example, sites that appear to link to adult movies, but then ask users to install a browser plugin to view the movie, without telling the user that the plugin actually contains a stealth dialer or other malicious components.