Kaltura All in One Video module link spam warning
24 December 2008 - 10:24am — Dave Reid
Since the Kaltura module was announced in the forums, discussed recently on Drupal Planet, and "advertised" on the development mailing list, it has come to the attention of Morbus and myself that the Kaltura All in One Video module contains unacceptable code that creates unwanted and hidden SEO link spam. The code is present in both their Drupal module and their WordPress plugin (which has gone unnoticed for quite some time). Interestingly enough, the same is not found in their MediaWiki plugin, because I can only assume they were paid to write that one.
It is stunning (and kinda funny) to think that some people still believe they can get away with such a dirty and nasty practice, especially in open source software. At the time of this post, the company has yet to respond in either of the posts in their forums (linked above). Anyone not wanting to be punished by Google and lose rankings should probably disable the module immediately. This is just another reason why I will always recommend to do a quick read of a module's source code before you use it. The offending code is in the full post if you'd like to check it out yourself.
Note, I've edited the links to as to not contribute to the link spam.
Drupal: All in One Video module, file kaltura.theming.inc, function _kaltura_replace_tags():
$hidden_links = '<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/technology/application_gallery">video platform</a>
<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/about">open source video</a>
<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/">video tools</a>
<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/technology/video_publishing">open source player</a>
<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/technology/editing_and_annotation">free video editor</a>
<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/solutions/overview">online video platform</a>
<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/solutions/overview">free video player</a>';
...
<div id="'. $div_id .'" class="kaltura_wrapper" style="'. (($comment_div != '')? 'display:none;':'') . $align . $embed_options['custom_style'] .'"'. $embed_options['js_events'] .'>'. $hidden_links .'</div>'. $kaltura_poweredby .'WordPress: All in One Video Pack plugin, file all_in_one_video_pack.php, function kaltura_shortcode():
$link = '';
$link .= '<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/">open source video</a><br />';
$link .= '<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/technology/video_player">free video player</a><br />';
$link .= '<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/technology/video_editor">open source editor</a><br />';
$link .= '<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/technology/video_management">video management</a><br />';
$link .= '<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/solutions/overview">online video</a><br />';
$link .= '<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/technology/premium_video_editor">video editor</a><br />';
$link .= '<a href="http://corp.kalt---ura.com/download">video plugin</a><br />';
...
<div id="' . $divId . '" style="height: '.$height.'px"">'.$link.'</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery("#'.$divId.'").hide();
All but one of the hidden links have been removed, but still doesn't change the shady, un-ethical intent. I posted a follow-up issue in the module's issue queue to disclose the one current, hidden link.
Seems like a configuration option to "include 'Powered By' link below videos to support our service" or whatever would be most appropriate? Hidden links are bad in general, I would think ... because their nature makes them seem like spam. Google tends to agree.
Just my opinion though! :)
[Also note, ironically: "We are sorry, but the spam filter on this site decided that your submission could be spam. Please fill in the CAPTCHA first."]
Is it the invisible aspect that makes these so bad in your opinion? We have lots of themes on d.o which have links in the footer. I can't see us getting rid of all of them and think it's an OK practice when they are visible, especially if they can be removed via a theme function the way that Ubercart's footer links can be removed...
"We have lots of themes..."
Would be better written as
"There are lots of themes..."
"We" implies that my company has themes like that which is not the case at all. If we do ever contribute a theme, it will almost certainly not have footer links :)
Yes, I think it would be perfectly fine if they were visible and I'd have no problems if they were trying to get people to show a "Powered by" kind of link, much like the Drupal image footer block that's enabled by default in any Drupal install. It's the invisible link-spamming that is a scummy, dirty tactic that could punish innocent sites that use the module.
I've just download the Kaltura Module the other day and what a surprise because I thought they were some nice people (company).
Thanks for your information and thanks God I haven't installed yet.
Due to some additional internal discussions and feedback from within the community, we have updated the module to allow an opt-out option regarding the links discussed above. Specifically, site-owners will be able to opt-out and remove the links from within the module settings (without having to change any code, as was the case before).
We have left two links that are geared towards promoting the open source video movement and Kaltura's efforts in this area - including the Kaltura Directory of content, the world's largest repository of legally remixable content, which is in the making. Seeing as the links are highly relevant and do not harm any of our publishers or Kaltura itself, we hope that the majority of the community will join us in this effort and leave the links in.
Additional feedback is welcome, of course!
Lisa
Kaltura
I think that the folks at Kaltura have a lot to learn about operating in the world of Open Source and Social Media technologies. What you've found certainly underscores their lack of candor and perhaps desperation to promote their product. I have another example of their cluelessness.
When Kaltura officially released their All In One video module for Drupal, Lisa Bennett from Kaltura (writer of the first comment above) spammed my Drupal learning website with a boiler plate promotional ad in the comments section. She pasted the same announcement on two separate posts. I did a Google search and found that she copied and pasted that exact comment into several Drupal oriented websites including Drupal.org.
I call what they're doing spamming and I said so in a reply to one of the comments (I deleted the other one) on my site.
After seeing their "commenting" strategy in action and reading your post about hiding links in the code I definitely will avoid the Kaltura service and stick with my current video hosting provider.
Looks like they made it a configuration option, based on the latest commits. Congrats on helping get them to resolve it so quickly -- and over Christmas to boot.