If you’re keen to download Firefox 7, please make sure that you download it from the correct website.
When I did a Google for “Firefox 7” this morning, look at the second result I received:
The site is called firefox7.org. So what do you see if you visit the firefox7.org website?
You’ll find some promotional puff about Firefox 7, followed by download links residing on a Blogspot page called “mozillas”.
As you may have guessed by now, Firefox7.org isn’t run by Mozilla.
Instead it was created earlier this year by a Chinese chap called Xiaojuan Zhang. At least, that’s what the site’s registration information says:
Domain Name:FIREFOX7.ORG
Created On:22-May-2011 02:11:29 UTC
Last Updated On:28-Aug-2011 10:51:34 UTC
Expiration Date:22-May-2012 02:11:29 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com, Inc. (R91-LROR)
Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:CR83647748
Registrant Name:Xiaojuan Zhang
Registrant Street1:1209 B BlockZhongshen Garden
Registrant Street2:Futian
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Shenzhen
Registrant State/Province:Guandong
Registrant Postal Code:518033
Registrant Country:CN
Also included are Xiaojuan Zhang’s email address and phone number.
Quite why this webpage was created is unclear.
Is Xiaojuan Zhang a fervernt fan of Firefox? If so, why not link to the proper download page rather than to a bunch of links hosted on Blogspot?
Is Xiaojuan Zhang trying to spread malware? We hope not, and we haven’t seen any malicious links on his webpages yet. But obviously the site could be updated at any time.
Is Xiaojuan Zhang attempting to make money from interest in Firefox 7? That certainly seems likely. Some of his webpages contain Google Adwords, which presumably he is hoping will earn him some revenue – especially considering how high his site is appearing in Google Search results at the moment.
Whatever the intentions of the person behind this website, it seems pretty silly for Mozilla not to have registered this domain to avoid this kind of thing from happening, considering how quickly they are getting through version numbers these days.
If you’re planning to download Firefox 7, make sure that you get it from the authorised download site, rather than a third party who may have unclear motives.
