the finger-keyboard synapse

Deceptive Advertising and Stupid Pricing

I like to make truthful statements, and like to do honest promotions that are not misleading or controversial (at least not more than mildly so). Though there is always some marketing flex that is expected, sometimes it goes way too far, and reading about a product just sends me over the top. A BitWise user sent me a message today telling me about more competition, Intego ChatBarrier which is a plugin to Apple's iChat. It's a nice idea, but I found some of it's statements to be disturbing:

• "Encrypts outgoing iChat messages using military-grade 512-bit encryption." - There is no such thing as "military grade encryption." The military does not specify or outline the encryption they use or what they consider to be military grade.
  
• "...using military-grade 512-bit encryption that no one can break." - Other than using military grade again, saying that no one can break any encryption is simply false. It can be broken--it just takes too long for most people, athough you always could get lucky.
  
• "Only decrypts messages if the intended user receives them." -- I'm really not sure what to think about that, because a) it implies your messages aren't received and b) implies that other programs could decrypt them if not received, though I have no idea how that could be pulled off.
  

On top of all that, it costs $40 (well, actually $20, because you get a 2nd license free, which I guess is nice so you can talk to one other person). So if I want to talk securely to others, I have to convince everyone to buy a $40 program? I just don't see this happening.

I guess I could consider it competition, but at those prices, I don't think so. So while the deceptive advertising made my blood boil, the prices made me laugh. I'll laugh until I hear Intego laughing all the way to the bank. Should I expect to laugh long? I hope so. :)

I think I speak for everyone here when I say you should advertise BW as having "export-grade" encryption.

D^M

I don't think that the page was ever proof-read, so it's possible that nobody smart enough to know that the "military-grade 512-bit encryption that no one can break" can be broken ever even saw the page before it was published.

I think this because of the bottom half of the page where everything switches gears and they start talking about their software checking for "new versions of any of the programs, or updated virus definitions for VirusBarrier" and how this will "keep your computer safe." Looks like a case of copy/paste without reading the final product to me. :-\

You're right Tom, I hadn't noticed the bad copy & paste job. That's even more laughable! I also like how the screenshots of the update don't show ChatBarrier.