Wikipedia Warns Users "Ads May Mean You Have Malware"

In an official statement released today Wikipedia warned its millions of visitors that if they see ads for anything except Wikipedia's own fundraising appeal, which occurs at the end of the year, here's a good chance their computer is infected with malware.

"We never run ads on Wikipedia," the online encyclopedia said in its statement. "Wikipedia is funded by more than a million donors, who give an average donation of less than 30 dollars. We run fundraising appeals, usually at the end of the year. If you’re seeing advertisements for a for-profit industry (see screenshot below for an example) or anything but our fundraiser, then your web browser has likely been infected with malware."

Malware installed on your computer may inject advertising into a page on popular websites, such as the above example of an article being displayed from an infected computer. This is only one of a few examples that Wikipedia has said they have seen in the wild. Note the tiny text "ads not by this site" immediately below the ad, which may or may not appear next to these types of injected advertisements.

Wikipedia suggests you browse using a secure, encrypted HTTPS connection, disable browser add-ins, and run anti-spyware and anti-virus software on your computer. Personally I'd suggest anyone seeing ads on Wikipedia run scans with Ad-Aware and Malwarebytes as well as running scans with anti-virus software like AVG to make sure there aren't any other infections.

Wikipedia Raises $6Million Plus

Wikimedia, with the support of over 125,000 donors from around the world, raised over $6 million to sustain Wikipedia. A personal appeal from Jimmy Wales, published on the Wikimedia Foundation's website on December 23, 2008, resulted in a surge of more than 50,000 contributions in eight days, totaling $2 million and closing the gap towards the revenue goal.

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation, wrote in a thank you letter posted on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation's website: "This campaign has proven that Wikipedia matters to its users, and that our users strongly support our mission: to bring free knowledge to the planet, free of charge and free of advertising. We deeply appreciate the generosity of our supporters."

Mahalo Greenhouse Goes Live!!

Mahalo, dubbed the human-powered “search service” has accepted yours truly to be a part time guide. Even though they went live with the beta last week, it wasn't until earlier this week that I received my confirmation. So far things are rolling right along with 6 Search Results Pages (SeRPs.) done this week.

What is Mahalo you ask well check them out Mahalo FAQ's. If you'd like to become part of the Mahalo team drop by The Greenhouse. There you can find all the information on applying to become a part time guide.

For information on the projects that I've been working on visit my profile.