Be careful what you inline: Defunct video-hosting domain used to inject smut flicks into news articles, more

The domain name of a now-defunct website used by news publishers and others to inline videos in articles has been configured to inject porn into those pages. Vid.me once upon a time hosted user-submitted videos, and allowed them to be included in webpages using HTML <iframe>s. Websites thus could embed those videos in their …

[JassMan]

Five Star HD

I'd be surprised there was even 3 stars involved. It looks* rather amateurish. Especially since it doesn't even make any pretence of gettimg you to self certify as over 18.

*Viewed purely in the interests of research. I won't be visiting there again. Honest.

[Snake]

Re: visiting Five Star HD

"I won't be visiting there again. Honest."

No problem! I'll be happy to take over those...hard...duties from you.

I have no shame ;-)

[ShadowSystems]

Oh NOW you serve porn?!?

I spend decades surfing the web & have to find porn on my own, but then I go blind and you start serving it up in otherwise SFW sites? You bastards! =-D

[Ken Hagan]

just you wait...

One day this will happen to an ad-provider (or a social media site will go the way of MySpace) and the whole internet will light up like Christmas lights.

[NetBlackOps]

"Whatever you think is in that <iframe> now, it may not be there in future. There may be something from your worst nightmares." Or any other outsider provided media, code, bits, etc.

[ItWasn'tMe]

Click to enlarge

Indeed

[TRT]

You think that's bad...

Loaded up my favourite grumble flick site ready to bang one out and the video had been replaced by one of Trump's speeches.

[phuzz]

Re: You think that's bad...

"Orange man f**ks entire country"

[TRT]

Re: You think that's bad...

I just can't believe how perverted the internet can be. I mean replacing videos with that depraved filth.

[wub]

Re: You think that's bad...

"...replaced by one of Trump's speeches."

So, NSFW* then?

*Not Safe For Wanking

[TheWeetabix]

Re: You think that's bad...

Just a big ol' softy, he is.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is fairly normal

From what I can tell, there are a number of outfits that are constantly on the lookout for expired domains.

Those are bought with the intention to rip off those who let them expire by accident by selling them back for a lot more money, but inevitably some domains expire wilfully, or victims prefer not to be ripped off. Those domains are then sold on to merchants such as spammers, pron mechants and scammers.

I suspect that domains that had a lot of traffic prior to expiry may be worth a lot more to scam artists.

[DS999]

Re: This is fairly normal

spammers, pron mechants and scammers

Was it really necessary to repeat yourself three times?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: This is fairly normal

True, but I was trying to make a point :)

[Dabooka]

Wait

so there's porn on the internet now?

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Wait

Jeez, did you think it was ALL kittens?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Wait

Wait, that's not pron?

That explains the strange looks I get at the animal centre.

:)

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Wait

That's because you are looking at the pussies, not the kittens.

[DS999]

It started with whitehouse.com

And continues to this day, porn sites want to drive ad traffic so everything they can do to get people to their site, even by accident (and especially if it gets around SFW filtering) is fair game to them.

[Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?]

No one at Giphy nor the porn site was available for immediate comment.

Out of the entire article, this line amuses me most. I love the thought that some poor intern at El Reg has been tasked with getting a quote from someone running a site like that.

[mark l 2]

Iframes were a good idea back when sites were just static content, but now they are just another way for malware and viruses to get loaded up onto legitimate sites, and to track end users.

Its for this sort of reason I won't embed iframes onto any of the sites I run. I think its time they were replaced by something more secure.

[Zarno]

Someone is going to get an utter bollocking someplace for it.

Not quite as bad as when the local newspaper website's malware merchant advertising partner was serving up cryptolocker and it infected the local government network...

[tiggity]

@Zarno

Most "local" (small cartel of media groups run them) news websites in UK are awful for huge number of ads (& irritating ones) - only option is to go in fully defended. They lose any ad income from me as sites just impossible to use otherwise; intrusive ads, delayed render that "jiggles" page around so intended click target moves & you click something else just lose revenue in the end as people ad block or just stop visiting the sites.