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			{{Short description\|Website reputation service}}
	{{For\|the cryptography term\|Web of trust}}		{{For\|the cryptography term\|Web of trust}}
	{{Infobox software		{{Infobox software
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	\|developer = WOT Services		\|developer = WOT Services
	\|released = 2007		\|released = 2007
	\|genre= ]		\|genre= browser add-on
	\|website = {{URL\|https://www.mywot.com/}}		\|website = {{URL\|https://www.mywot.com/}}
	}}		}}

			'''WOT Services''' is the developer of '''MyWOT''' (also known as '''WOT''' and '''Web of Trust'''), an online reputation and Internet safety service which shows indicators of trust about existing websites. The confidence level is based both on user ratings and on third-party ], ], ] and ] ].<ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://support.mywot.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024398593-2-Our-Data\|title=2.3 Third-party blacklists\|website=WOT Help Center\|access-date=2019-11-18}}</ref> The service also provides ] reviews, about to what extent websites are trustworthy, and respect user privacy, vendor reliability and child safety.<ref>{{Cite journal\|last1=Vanetti\|first1=M.\|last2=Binaghi\|first2=E.\|last3=Ferrari\|first3=E.\|last4=Carminati\|first4=B.\|last5=Carullo\|first5=M.\|date=February 2013\|title=A System to Filter Unwanted Messages from OSN User Walls\|journal=IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering\|volume=25\|issue=2\|pages=285–297\|doi=10.1109/TKDE.2011.230\|hdl=11383/1730593\|s2cid=15338868 \|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
	'''MyWOT/WOT (Web of Trust)''' is a website reputation and review service that helps people make informed decisions about whether to trust a website or not. WOT is based on a unique ] approach that collects ratings and reviews.

			Its website user interface is available in four languages, namely, English, French, Portuguese and Russian. Its website uses machine translation on the domain name scorecard webpages for logged-in users/commenters.
	The installed browser add-on, available for ], ], ] and ], shows users the reputations of websites, which are calculated through a combination of user ratings and data from other sources. To generate revenue, WOT licenses the use of its reputation database to other businesses.

	In November 2016, Mozilla, Google and NoScript removed some WOT offerings<ref>{{cite web\|title=Web of Trust (WOT) Add-on taken down by Chrome & Firefox\|url=http://news.thewindowsclub.com/web-of-trust-wot-add-on-taken-down-86981/\|website=TWCN Tech News\|publisher=The Windows Club Tech News\|accessdate=5 November 2016\|date=5 November 2016}}</ref> -- see "Privacy Issues".

	The safe browsing tool is available in two formats – users can either search a website's reputation on the WOT website or download a ] that automatically checks every visited website's rating. The search feature allows people to assess the reputation and safety of any web address by typing the address into a search bar on the WOT website. Each web address is rated and assigned a score under two separate metrics – trustworthiness and child safety. User reviews are also presented underneath the scorecard for each website, expressing each user's own reason(s) for trusting or not trusting a given site. Website owners are also presented with the opportunity to claim their site, giving them the opportunity to communicate with their website's users. Site owners can also request a review of their site's reputation score and add a custom description of their site to the scorecard.

	==History==		==History==
		⚫	WOT Services was founded in 2006 by Sami Tolvanen and Timo Ala-Kleemola, who wrote the MyWOT software as post-graduates at the ] University of Technology in ]. They launched the service officially in 2007, with Esa Suurio as CEO. Suurio was replaced in November 2009, and both founders left the company in 2014.<ref>{{cite web\|title=Web of Trust (WOT) – Crowdsourced web safety\|url=https://www.mywot.com/en/aboutus\|access-date=3 November 2016}}</ref>

		⚫	In 2009, MySQL founder ] invested in WOT Services and became a member of the board of directors.<ref>{{cite news \| title=The Register — MySQL daddy juices Finnish security firm \| url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/17/widenius_invests_in_wot/ \| date=17 February 2009 \| access-date=21 December 2014 \| first=Austin \| last=Modine}}</ref> WOT Services is no longer a portfolio company of Widenius's venture capital firm, OpenOcean.vc.<ref>{{cite web\|title=Portfolio — Previous Investments\|url=http://openocean.vc/portfolio/\|website=OpenOcean\|access-date=26 November 2016}}</ref>
⚫	WOT Services was founded in 2006 by Sami Tolvanen and Timo Ala-Kleemola, who wrote the ~~WOT~~ software as post-graduates at the ] University of Technology in ]. They launched the service officially in 2007, with Esa Suurio as CEO. Suurio was replaced in November 2009, and both founders left the company in 2014.<ref>{{cite web\|title=Web of Trust (WOT) – Crowdsourced web safety\|url=https://www.mywot.com/en/aboutus\|~~accessdate~~=3 November 2016}}</ref>

⚫	In 2009 MySQL founder ] invested in WOT and became a member of the board of directors.<ref>{{cite news \| title=The Register - MySQL daddy juices Finnish security firm \| url=~~http~~://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/17/widenius_invests_in_wot/ \| date=17 February 2009 \| ~~accessdate~~=21 December 2014 \| first=Austin \| last=Modine}}</ref>

⚫	~~The~~ ~~company~~ has ~~partnered~~ with ]~~, hpHosts~~, ], ], ], ], ] and ].<ref>{{cite web\|title=Facebook Security - Keeping You Safe from Scams and Spam\|url=https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-security/keeping-you-safe-from-scams-and-spam/10150174826745766\|date=12 May 2011\|~~accessdate~~=31 May 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release \| url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/08/idUS142454+08-Aug-2012+BW20120808 \| title=Mail.Ru Group Launches New Browser Featuring Web of Trust Safe-Surfing Technology \| publisher=Rocket Science PR \| date=8 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news\|title=The Journal - Panda Security, Against Intuition Offer Free 'Web of Trust' Browser Addon\|url=http://thejournal.com/articles/2009/08/11/panda-security-against-intuition-offer-free-web-of-trust-browser-addon.aspx?sc_lang=en\|date=11 August 2009\|~~accessdate~~=31 May 2014\| first=Dian \| last=Schaffhauser}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=Friends of PhishTank\|url=http://www.phishtank.com/friends.php\|~~accessdate~~=31 May 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=~~GlobalSign -~~ GlobalSign Partners with Web of Trust to Provide Reputation Data in the Website Passport\|url=https://www.globalsign.eu/company/press/2/031511-globalsign-partners-with-web-of-trust-in-website-passport-project.html\|date=15 March 2012\|~~accessdate~~=18 December 2014}}</ref>

⚫	In November 2013, WOT ~~surpassed~~ 100 million downloads.<ref>{{cite web \| url=http://www.industryinvestment.com/news-and-publications_/news?id=35752878 \| title=Web of Trust hits 100 million Downloads Milestone \| date=12 November 2013 \| ~~accessdate~~=28 January 2015}}</ref>

	In 2015, WOT Services officially changed its name to TOW Software, and finally ceased operations in June 2016. While the service still operates, its current ownership is unclear and not disclosed on the website. <ref>{{cite web \| url=https://tietopalvelu.ytj.fi/yritystiedot.aspx?yavain=1998957&tarkiste=AF057A9D1864600E8029A4E3E180046A0FB5F746 \| title=BIS - Business information system\|accessdate=3 November 2016}}</ref>

	== WOT services ==
	WOT offers other services in addition the WOT safe browsing add-on for web browsers.<ref>{{cite web\|last1=Pott\|first1=Trevor\|title=A secure browser means a happy sysadmin\|url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/10/sysadmin_secure_browser/\|website=theregister.co.uk\|publisher=The Register\|accessdate=5 November 2016\|date=10 August 2010\|quote=everyone with WOT installed can see the rating that other WOT users give to a site, and use a simple interface to add their ratings to the database}}</ref> Filter by WOT is a customizable content filtering tool that allows users to choose what kind of web content they want to see. The service is available for ] as a free add-on. Apart from allowing users to control which sites, domains, or pages they want to display, Filter by WOT also has a keyword scanner that automatically blocks any page that a given keyword appears on.

	WOT Mobile is a free app on the Google Play Store that notifies users when they browse unsafe websites on their mobile devices. The WOT Mobile application works on both the Chrome browser and users' native mobile browsers. WOT Mobile utilizes user reputation ratings to display warning notifications to users when they are about to browse websites with poor user ratings.

	WOT Services also offers its original browser add-on for enterprise use. This allows companies to install the WOT add-on to employees' computers for free after each company's details are registered on the WOT website.

	The MyWOT website has a community section with a forum, a blog and a Wiki. The forum is used for community members to discuss website ratings, security, and online safety. The blog is updated regularly with information for readers about browsing safely on the web.

	==The rating tool==

	According to the company information the WOT software computes the measure of trust the rating users have in websites, combined with data from, among others, ]. The WOT browser add-on is available for all major operating systems and browsers. To view or submit ratings, no subscription is required. To be able to write comments on score cards and in the forum, one needs to be registered.

		⚫	WOT Services has partnerships with ], ], hpHosts, ], ], ], ] and ].<ref>{{cite web\|title=Facebook Security — Keeping You Safe from Scams and Spam\|website=] \|url=https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-security/keeping-you-safe-from-scams-and-spam/10150174826745766\|date=12 May 2011\|access-date=31 May 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release \| url=https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/08/idUS142454+08-Aug-2012+BW20120808 \| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528005228/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/08/idUS142454+08-Aug-2012+BW20120808 \| url-status=dead \| archive-date=28 May 2014 \| title=Mail.Ru Group Launches New Browser Featuring Web of Trust Safe-Surfing Technology \| publisher=Rocket Science PR \| website=reuters.com\|date=8 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news\|title=The Journal — Panda Security, Against Intuition Offer Free 'Web of Trust' Browser Addon\|url=http://thejournal.com/articles/2009/08/11/panda-security-against-intuition-offer-free-web-of-trust-browser-addon.aspx?sc_lang=en\|date=11 August 2009\|access-date=31 May 2014\| first=Dian \| last=Schaffhauser}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=Friends of PhishTank\|url=http://www.phishtank.com/friends.php\|access-date=31 May 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=GlobalSign Partners with Web of Trust to Provide Reputation Data in the Website Passport\|url=https://www.globalsign.eu/company/press/2/031511-globalsign-partners-with-web-of-trust-in-website-passport-project.html\|date=15 March 2012\|access-date=18 December 2014\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218164937/https://www.globalsign.eu/company/press/2/031511-globalsign-partners-with-web-of-trust-in-website-passport-project.html\|archive-date=18 December 2014\|url-status=dead\|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
	The add-on sends user ratings to the WOT site, and it determines how the computed results are displayed, depending on user's settings. For instance, when visiting a poorly rated site, a warning screen may pop up, or only a red icon in the user's browser tool-bar is shown. Color-coded icons are also shown next to external links on the pages of leading search engines, on email services, on social network sites, and on Misplaced Pages.

		⚫	By November 2013, WOT Services had over 100 million downloads.<ref>{{cite web \| url=http://www.industryinvestment.com/news-and-publications_/news?id=35752878 \| title=Web of Trust hits 100 million Downloads Milestone \| date=12 November 2013 \| access-date=28 January 2015 \| archive-date=13 February 2015 \| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213181917/http://www.industryinvestment.com/news-and-publications_/news?id=35752878 \| url-status=dead }}</ref>
	Ratings are cast by secret ballot. They can be given in the categories "trustworthiness" and "child safety". To specify at least one reason for a rating is mandatory, via multiple choice in the rating interface.

			A 2016 ] investigation revealed that WOT Services sold user activity data collected from its apps and ]s to third parties in violation of the ] of the ] on which the software was distributed.
	The user rating system is ]; the weight of a rating is algorithmically calculated for each user individually.

			In 2016, it was revealed that WOT Services had made money by collecting browsing history data from its users and selling that usage data; it said that it anonymized the data before selling it.<ref name=PCyank />
	==Reviews==

			==Sale of user-related data==
	] and the ] have written about WOT<ref>{{cite news \| title=New York Times - Five Ways to Keep Online Criminals at Bay \| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/technology/personaltech/20basics.html \| date=19 May 2010 \| accessdate=21 December 2014 \| first=Riva \| last=Richmond}}</ref><ref>{{cite news \| title=Washington Post - Three Quarters of Malicious Web Sites Are Hacked \| url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2008/07/75_percent_of_malicious_web_si_1.html \| date=29 July 2008 \| accessdate=21 December 2014 \| first=Brian \| last=Krebs}}</ref><ref>{{cite news \| title=Washington Post - After big news stories, watch out for social media viruses \| url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/after-big-news-stories-watch-out-for-social-media-viruses/2011/05/10/AFJqtY2G_story.html \| date=13 May 2011 \| accessdate=21 December 2014 \| first=Melissa \| last=Bell}}</ref> and the add-on was mentioned and reviewed by the trade press and download sites. The reviewers opinions vary from good to excellent, though some critical remarks were made.
			In November 2016, a German state media investigation found that WOT Services had secretly collected personal user details and sold or licensed this information to unidentified third-party businesses and entities for ] purposes. This activity breached the privacy rules and guidelines set by several browsers. As a result, the browser add-on was involuntarily removed from ]'s add-on store, and voluntarily removed from other browsers' add-on/extension stores. WOT was eventually reinstated.

		⚫	On November 1, 2016, German public broadcasting station ] reported the results of an investigation by in-house journalists, showing that WOT collected, recorded, analyzed and sold user-related data to third parties.<ref name="Tagesschau_20161101" /><ref name="Spiegel_20161101" /><ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Millionen-Surf-Profile-Daten-stammen-angeblich-auch-von-Browser-Addon-WOT-3453820.html\|title=Millionen Surf-Profile: Daten stammen angeblich auch von Browser-Addon WOT\|website=heise online\|date=November 2016 \|language=de-DE\|access-date=2016-11-01}}</ref> The data obtained was traceable to WOT and could be assigned to specific individuals, despite WOT's claim that user data was anonymized.<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Daten-zu-Surfverhalten-von-Millionen-Deutschen-als-kostenlose-Probe-3451556.html\|title=Daten zu Surfverhalten von Millionen Deutschen als "kostenlose Probe"\|website=heise online\|date=November 2016 \|language=de-DE\|access-date=2016-11-01}}</ref> The NDR investigative journalism report was based on freely available sample data, and revealed that sensitive private information of more than 50 users could be retrieved.<ref name="Spiegel_20161101">{{cite web \|author=gru \|title=NDR-Bericht über 'Web of Trust' - Beliebte Browser-Erweiterung spioniert offenbar Nutzer aus \|language=de \|trans-title=NDR report regarding 'Web of Trust' - Popular browser extension apparently spies on users \|date=2016-11-01 \|publisher=] \|url=http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/web-of-trust-browser-add-on-spioniert-angeblich-nutzer-aus-a-1119236.html \|access-date=2016-11-01}}</ref> The information included websites visited, account names and email addresses, potentially revealing user illnesses, sexual preferences and drug consumption. The journalists also reconstructed a media company's confidential revenue data, and details about an ongoing police investigation.<ref name="Tagesschau_20161101">{{cite web \|author-first1=Svea \|author-last1=Eckert \|author-first2=Jasmin \|author-last2=Klofta \|author-first3=Jan Lukas \|author-last3=Strozyk \|title=Browser-Erweiterung gibt Daten weiter - 'Web of Trust' späht Nutzer aus \|language=de \|trans-title=Browser extension gives away user data - 'Web of Trust' spies on users \|date=2016-11-01 \|publisher=] \|url=https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/tracker-online-103.html \|access-date=2016-11-01}}</ref>
	]'s Neil Rubenking concluded "Web of Trust's protection is free, and it doesn't impact browsing speed; it's well worth trying out". However, on the minus side he found several clearly adult sites unrated and he wished WOT would also rate sponsored search results, like its main competitors do.<ref>{{cite news \| title=PC Magazine - Web of Trust Review and Rating \| url=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2351536,00.asp \| date=Aug 13, 2009 \| accessdate=17 May 2011 \| first=Neil J. \| last=Rubenking}}</ref>

		⚫	German media contacted WOT Services with the results of the investigation prior to publication of the report. WOT declined to comment on the findings.<ref name="Tagesschau_20161101"/><ref name="Spiegel_20161101"/>
	]'s Preston Gralla concluded: "Try WOT (Web of Trust), an excellent--and free--browser add-on that offers protection", and Rick Broida wrote in an article "I also highly recommend Web of Trust, a free browser plug-in that shows you if Web links are safe--before you click them".<ref>{{cite news \| title=PCWorld - Say WOT? Web of Trust Rates Web Site Safety \| url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/163271/WOT.html \|date=26 April 2009 \| accessdate=21 December 2014 \| first=Preston \| last=Gralla}}</ref><ref>{{cite news \| title=PCWorld - Make Your New PC Hassle-Free, Part 3: Keep It Secure \| url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/185781/Make_Your_New_PC_HassleFree_Part_3_Keep_It_Secure.html \| date=4 January 2010 \| accessdate=21 December 2014 \| first=Rick \| last=Broida}}</ref>

			A few days after the news story aired, Mozilla removed the browser add-on from the ] add-on store.<ref>{{Cite news\|url=http://news.thewindowsclub.com/web-of-trust-wot-add-on-taken-down-86981/\|title=Web of Trust (WOT) Add-on taken down by Chrome & Firefox\|date=2016-11-05\|newspaper=TWCN Tech News\|access-date=2016-11-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news\|url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/349328/web-of-trust-browser-extension-cannot-be-trusted\|title='Web Of Trust' Browser Extension Cannot Be Trusted\|newspaper=PCMAG\|access-date=2016-11-06}}</ref>
	] reviewer Ionut Ilascu wrote: "The reliability of the service has grown in the past years, despite voices accusing it of being exactly the opposite of what it should be, and proof is the collaboration with Facebook, Opera and Mail.ru Group.", concluding "As a service, WOT (Web of Trust) may be viewed as biased, but the latest developments in balancing the user opinion in order to provide relevant information point to the contrary. The extension is non-obtrusive but still has room for improvements.".<ref>{{cite web \| title=Softpedia - Web of Trust Review \| url=http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/WOT-Web-of-Trust-Review-385828.shtml \| date=26 September 2013 \| accessdate=21 December 2014 \| first=Ionut\| last=Ilascu}}</ref>
			WOT subsequently removed its browsing tool for other browsers, including ] and ].<ref name="mozaddon1">{{Cite web\|url=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-Gb/firefox/addon/wot-safe-browsing-tool/\|title=WOT Safe Browsing Tool\|website=Mozilla Addons\|access-date=2016-11-20}}</ref><ref name="PCyank">{{Cite web\|url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/3139814/software/web-of-trust-browser-extensions-yanked-after-proving-untrustworthy.html\|title=Web of Trust browser extensions yanked after proving untrustworthy\|last=Paul\|first=Ian\|website=PC World\|access-date=2016-11-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.mywot.com/en/forum/70818-to-the-wot-community\|title=To the WOT community {{!}} Forum {{!}} WOT (Web of Trust)\|date=2016-11-06\|website=www.mywot.com\|publisher=WOT Services Ltd.\|access-date=2016-11-15}}</ref> The WOT "Mobile Security & Protection" ] was removed from ], approximately one week after the extension was removed from the Google Chrome extension store.

			In a blog post published on December 19, 2016, WOT Services stated that they had upgraded their browser extension, and released it in the Google Chrome extension gallery. The upgraded version included "several major code updates in order to protect our user's privacy and an opt-out option from the user Settings, for users who do not wish to share data with us but still want to have easy access to WOT."<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.mywot.com/en/blog/were-back \|title=We're back! \|website=MyWOT Blog \|date=19 December 2016 \|access-date=2017-01-03}}</ref> In February 2017, Mozilla reinstated the MyWOT browsing tool in the Firefox add-on store.<ref name="mozaddon2">{{cite web\|title=Web of Trust, MyWOT/WOT: Website Reputation Rating; Versions; Add-ons for Firefox \|url=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/wot-safe-browsing-tool/versions/?page=1#version-20170206 \|website=addons.mozilla.org \|publisher=Mozilla \|access-date=26 June 2017\|date=6 February 2017}}</ref>
	== Privacy issues ==
⚫	On November 1, 2016, German public broadcasting station ] reported the results of on investigation by in-house journalists, showing that WOT ~~collects~~, ~~records~~, ~~analyzes~~ and ~~sells~~ user-related data to third-parties.<ref name="Tagesschau_20161101"/><ref name="Spiegel_20161101"/><ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Millionen-Surf-Profile-Daten-stammen-angeblich-auch-von-Browser-Addon-WOT-3453820.html\|title=Millionen Surf-Profile: Daten stammen angeblich auch von Browser-Addon WOT~~\|last=online\|first=heise~~\|website=heise online\|language=de-DE\|access-date=2016-11-01}}</ref> The data obtained was traceable to WOT and could be assigned to specific individuals, despite WOT's claim that ~~they anonymize~~ user data.<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Daten-zu-Surfverhalten-von-Millionen-Deutschen-als-kostenlose-Probe-3451556.html\|title=Daten zu Surfverhalten von Millionen Deutschen als "kostenlose Probe"~~\|last=online\|first=heise~~\|website=heise online\|~~language=de-DE\|access-~~date=2016~~-11-01}}</ref><ref>{{Cite~~ ~~web\|url=https://www.kuketz-blog.de/wot-addon-wie-ein-browser-addon-seine-nutzer-ausspaeht/\|title=WOT-Addon: Wie ein Browser-Addon seine Nutzer ausspäht\|last=\|website=kuketz-blog.de~~\|language=de-DE\|access-date=2016-11-02}}</ref> The ~~investigation~~ was based on freely available sample data, and revealed that sensitive ] information of more than 50 users could be retrieved.<ref name="Spiegel_20161101">{{cite web \|author=gru \|title=NDR-Bericht über "Web of Trust" - Beliebte Browser-Erweiterung spioniert offenbar Nutzer aus \|language=~~German~~ \|trans-title=NDR report regarding ~~"web~~ of ~~trust"~~ - Popular browser extension spies users \|date=2016-11-01 \|publisher=] \|url=http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/web-of-trust-browser-add-on-spioniert-angeblich-nutzer-aus-a-1119236.html \|access-date=2016-11-01}}</ref> The information included websites visited, account names and email addresses, potentially revealing user illnesses, sexual preferences and drug consumption. The journalists also reconstructed a media company's confidential revenue data, and details about an ongoing police investigation.<ref name="Tagesschau_20161101">{{cite web \|author-first1=Svea \|author-last1=Eckert \|author-first2=Jasmin \|author-last2=Klofta \|author-first3=Jan Lukas \|author-last3=Strozyk \|title=Browser-Erweiterung gibt Daten weiter - "Web of Trust" späht Nutzer aus \|language=~~German~~ \|trans-title=Browser extension gives away user data - "Web of Trust" spies on users \|date=2016-11-01 \|publisher=] \|url=~~http~~://www.tagesschau.de/inland/tracker-online-103.html \|access-date=2016-11-01}}</ref>

			==MyWOT addon==
⚫	German media contacted WOT with the results of the investigation prior to publication of the report. WOT ~~chose not~~ to comment on the findings ~~at that time~~.<ref name="Tagesschau_20161101"/><ref name="Spiegel_20161101"/>
			WOT Services offers an add-on for web browsers including ], ], ], ] and ].<ref name=PCyank/> The extension rates websites based on their reputation score and provides end users with a red, yellow, or green indicator, with red meaning that the site has a poor reputation score.<ref name=mozaddon1 />

	==Lawsuits==		==Lawsuits==
	In February 2011, a lawsuit in ] was filed against WOT and some of its forum members, demanding that WOT remove certain website ratings and associated comments cautioning about phishing scams.<ref>{{cite news\|last1=Perälä\|first1=Vesa\|title=Safe Surfing Tool Web of Trust Sued over Community Warnings\|url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/WOT/lawsuit/prweb8145841.htm\|~~accessdate~~=5 November 2016\|publisher=Vocus/PRWeb\|date=24 February 2011\|location=Helsinki~~\|language=en~~}}</ref> The court ~~ordered that~~ the case be ]. In ], some ]s were issued by courts, to delete feedback.<ref>{{cite web\|title=WOT Wins Lawsuit In The US\|url=http://www.arcticstartup.com/2011/12/13/wot-wins-lawsuit-in-the-us\|date=13 December 2011\|~~accessdate~~=22 December 2011\|publisher=]}}</ref>		In February 2011, a lawsuit in ] (United States) was filed against WOT and some of its forum members, demanding that WOT remove certain website ratings and associated comments cautioning about phishing scams.<ref>{{cite news\|last1=Perälä\|first1=Vesa\|title=Safe Surfing Tool Web of Trust Sued over Community Warnings\|url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/WOT/lawsuit/prweb8145841.htm\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110227120603/http://www.prweb.com/releases/WOT/lawsuit/prweb8145841.htm\|url-status=dead\|archive-date=February 27, 2011\|access-date=5 November 2016\|publisher=Vocus/PRWeb\|date=24 February 2011\|location=Helsinki}}</ref> The court dismissed the case with ]. In ], some ]s were issued by courts, to delete feedback.<ref>{{cite web\|title=WOT Wins Lawsuit In The US\|url=http://www.arcticstartup.com/2011/12/13/wot-wins-lawsuit-in-the-us\|date=13 December 2011\|access-date=22 December 2011\|publisher=ArcticStartup\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107141124/http://www.arcticstartup.com/2011/12/13/wot-wins-lawsuit-in-the-us\|archive-date=7 January 2012\|url-status=dead\|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

	==See also==		==See also==
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	==References==		==References==
	{{Reflist\|30em}}		{{Reflist\|30em}}

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Latest revision as of 17:37, 28 December 2024

Website reputation service For the cryptography term, see Web of trust.


Developer(s)	WOT Services
Initial release	2007
Type	browser add-on
Website	www.mywot.com

WOT Services is the developer of MyWOT (also known as WOT and Web of Trust), an online reputation and Internet safety service which shows indicators of trust about existing websites. The confidence level is based both on user ratings and on third-party malware, phishing, scam and spam blacklists. The service also provides crowdsourced reviews, about to what extent websites are trustworthy, and respect user privacy, vendor reliability and child safety.

Its website user interface is available in four languages, namely, English, French, Portuguese and Russian. Its website uses machine translation on the domain name scorecard webpages for logged-in users/commenters.

History

WOT Services was founded in 2006 by Sami Tolvanen and Timo Ala-Kleemola, who wrote the MyWOT software as post-graduates at the Tampere University of Technology in Finland. They launched the service officially in 2007, with Esa Suurio as CEO. Suurio was replaced in November 2009, and both founders left the company in 2014.

In 2009, MySQL founder Michael Widenius invested in WOT Services and became a member of the board of directors. WOT Services is no longer a portfolio company of Widenius's venture capital firm, OpenOcean.vc.

WOT Services has partnerships with Mail.ru, Facebook, hpHosts, Legit Script, Panda Security, Phish tank, GlobalSign and TRUSTe.

By November 2013, WOT Services had over 100 million downloads.

A 2016 Norddeutscher Rundfunk investigation revealed that WOT Services sold user activity data collected from its apps and browser extensions to third parties in violation of the privacy policies of the app stores on which the software was distributed.

In 2016, it was revealed that WOT Services had made money by collecting browsing history data from its users and selling that usage data; it said that it anonymized the data before selling it.

Sale of user-related data

In November 2016, a German state media investigation found that WOT Services had secretly collected personal user details and sold or licensed this information to unidentified third-party businesses and entities for data monetization purposes. This activity breached the privacy rules and guidelines set by several browsers. As a result, the browser add-on was involuntarily removed from Mozilla Firefox's add-on store, and voluntarily removed from other browsers' add-on/extension stores. WOT was eventually reinstated.

On November 1, 2016, German public broadcasting station NDR reported the results of an investigation by in-house journalists, showing that WOT collected, recorded, analyzed and sold user-related data to third parties. The data obtained was traceable to WOT and could be assigned to specific individuals, despite WOT's claim that user data was anonymized. The NDR investigative journalism report was based on freely available sample data, and revealed that sensitive private information of more than 50 users could be retrieved. The information included websites visited, account names and email addresses, potentially revealing user illnesses, sexual preferences and drug consumption. The journalists also reconstructed a media company's confidential revenue data, and details about an ongoing police investigation.

German media contacted WOT Services with the results of the investigation prior to publication of the report. WOT declined to comment on the findings.

A few days after the news story aired, Mozilla removed the browser add-on from the Firefox add-on store. WOT subsequently removed its browsing tool for other browsers, including Chrome and Opera. The WOT "Mobile Security & Protection" mobile app was removed from Google Play, approximately one week after the extension was removed from the Google Chrome extension store.

In a blog post published on December 19, 2016, WOT Services stated that they had upgraded their browser extension, and released it in the Google Chrome extension gallery. The upgraded version included "several major code updates in order to protect our user's privacy and an opt-out option from the user Settings, for users who do not wish to share data with us but still want to have easy access to WOT." In February 2017, Mozilla reinstated the MyWOT browsing tool in the Firefox add-on store.

MyWOT addon

WOT Services offers an add-on for web browsers including Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Internet Explorer and Baidu. The extension rates websites based on their reputation score and provides end users with a red, yellow, or green indicator, with red meaning that the site has a poor reputation score.

Lawsuits

In February 2011, a lawsuit in Florida (United States) was filed against WOT and some of its forum members, demanding that WOT remove certain website ratings and associated comments cautioning about phishing scams. The court dismissed the case with prejudice. In Germany, some preliminary injunctions were issued by courts, to delete feedback.

References

"2.3 Third-party blacklists". WOT Help Center. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
Vanetti, M.; Binaghi, E.; Ferrari, E.; Carminati, B.; Carullo, M. (February 2013). "A System to Filter Unwanted Messages from OSN User Walls". IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering. 25 (2): 285–297. doi:10.1109/TKDE.2011.230. hdl:11383/1730593. S2CID 15338868.
"Web of Trust (WOT) – Crowdsourced web safety". Retrieved 3 November 2016.
Modine, Austin (17 February 2009). "The Register — MySQL daddy juices Finnish security firm". Retrieved 21 December 2014.
"Portfolio — Previous Investments". OpenOcean. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
"Facebook Security — Keeping You Safe from Scams and Spam". Facebook. 12 May 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
"Mail.Ru Group Launches New Browser Featuring Web of Trust Safe-Surfing Technology". reuters.com (Press release). Rocket Science PR. 8 August 2012. Archived from the original on 28 May 2014.
Schaffhauser, Dian (11 August 2009). "The Journal — Panda Security, Against Intuition Offer Free 'Web of Trust' Browser Addon". Retrieved 31 May 2014.
"Friends of PhishTank". Retrieved 31 May 2014.
"GlobalSign Partners with Web of Trust to Provide Reputation Data in the Website Passport". 15 March 2012. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
"Web of Trust hits 100 million Downloads Milestone". 12 November 2013. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
^ Paul, Ian. "Web of Trust browser extensions yanked after proving untrustworthy". PC World. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ Eckert, Svea; Klofta, Jasmin; Strozyk, Jan Lukas (2016-11-01). "Browser-Erweiterung gibt Daten weiter - 'Web of Trust' späht Nutzer aus" [Browser extension gives away user data - 'Web of Trust' spies on users] (in German). Tagesschau. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
^ gru (2016-11-01). "NDR-Bericht über 'Web of Trust' - Beliebte Browser-Erweiterung spioniert offenbar Nutzer aus" [NDR report regarding 'Web of Trust' - Popular browser extension apparently spies on users] (in German). Spiegel Online. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
"Millionen Surf-Profile: Daten stammen angeblich auch von Browser-Addon WOT". heise online (in German). November 2016. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
"Daten zu Surfverhalten von Millionen Deutschen als "kostenlose Probe"". heise online (in German). November 2016. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
"Web of Trust (WOT) Add-on taken down by Chrome & Firefox". TWCN Tech News. 2016-11-05. Retrieved 2016-11-06.
"'Web Of Trust' Browser Extension Cannot Be Trusted". PCMAG. Retrieved 2016-11-06.
^ "WOT Safe Browsing Tool". Mozilla Addons. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
"To the WOT community | Forum | WOT (Web of Trust)". www.mywot.com. WOT Services Ltd. 2016-11-06. Retrieved 2016-11-15.
"We're back!". MyWOT Blog. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
"Web of Trust, MyWOT/WOT: Website Reputation Rating; Versions; Add-ons for Firefox". addons.mozilla.org. Mozilla. 6 February 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
Perälä, Vesa (24 February 2011). "Safe Surfing Tool Web of Trust Sued over Community Warnings". Helsinki: Vocus/PRWeb. Archived from the original on February 27, 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
"WOT Wins Lawsuit In The US". ArcticStartup. 13 December 2011. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2011.

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