The names have been changed to protect the douche-tastic March 4, 2010

I’m getting ahead of myself, as there’s really no here yet, but this is too puzzingly awesome to pass up…

I work in IT, and one of the things that I have responsibility for is being our anti-malware security nerd. Despite my steaming hate for those who write malware, and actually dealing with the aftermath of it, I am absolutely fascinated by how different pieces of malware target different areas, how they get at their targets, and how they get their information and other stolen goods back to the bad guys. It’s also fostered a lot of respect (born out of practical experience and several very late night calls with top-tier engineers) for McAfee.

Putting aside, for the moment, that their business model is predicated on preventing the spread of malicious software that rides through on the back of poor code rife with security vulnerabilities, and the ethics thereof, I’ve had a mostly positive experience (and a few not so choice ones). Which is why this is hilariously weird interaction of McAfee’s facebook just is even extra funny for me…

McAfee, like a good corporate citizen, throws out useful tidbits of information, and not always wrapped in the nougat of selling their products, via many social networks. They made one such announcement today, warning people about engineered search results and spam designed to trick you into visiting a site with a harmful payload – which made the first comment, from a spambot exhorting people to go to unprounceablestringofletters.whatever for FREE mp3’s and FREE ringtones and FREE song lyrics just extra funny. The following (admittedly edited, to ensure privacy, and to show the relevant interactions) ensued:

He didn’t respond (not surprising – fan pages usually don’t throw you an e-mail update to new comments on a thread so you don’t die of facebook inbox poisoning), but intrigued about someone who would oddly and randomly take such a stance, I clicked through to his profile:

So, I have to ask… McAfee, what paradigm-shifting sales model is it to call your customers tools in your own public forum? I look forward to seeing the fruits of this bold new era in marketing. Wait, let me try it here:

YOU’RE ALL SHITBAGS, SO READ MY BLOG.

How’s that working for everyone?