Comodo CEO Melih accuses AV-Comparatives of Bullying Extortion and Unethical Practice

[Funkysourav]

hey guys
was checking my facebook profile when i noticed this certain link posted by Comodo Page

http://www.melih.com/2011/11/27/av-c...virus-vendors/

I never liked bullies, I never liked censorship, I never liked blackmail and I still don’t!

Its 24th November early in the morning, its Thanksgiving day in the US and looking forward to celebrating it with my family and friends. I checked my emails and I see the below email that has been sent to us (to Umesh). I was shocked to say the least! Peter Stelzhammer of AV-comparatives.org is threating me and blackmailing me saying that if I don’t “censor” my forum postings they will reveal “confidential” information.

Here is their email……

***BEGIN*Email of 24th Nov 2011************

...............

please visit the link and tell me what you think

Regards FunkyDude

[A Guy]

Very interesting. We had always heard there were payments by AV companies, but it was supposed to be a set fee, and only to cover testing costs. Even if it's all untrue, it colors any results we see because we will wonder was there more to the reults.

A Guy

[leofelix]

is the Comodo CEO used to publish confidential messages?
Sorry to say but I find it unprofessional. (In my Country it is illegal, for instance)

I think some good answers can be found here
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=ektneqkd5id7j6i6ue5crbml73&topic=89202.msg712158#msg712158
and here
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=89202.msg712171#msg712171

[A Guy]

AV-Comparatives replies:

Our reply to posts done recently by Comodo:

In our opinion, software evaluations should be provided free of charge to the public.
The costs that arise from the tests and demands from vendors should be covered by the vendors, as it is like an external quality assurance assessment (and they also use it for marketing). That vendors have to pay a fee (which is the same for all vendors, and of course has no influence on results) is publicly known, and also written inside the old methodology document which has been available on our website since at least 2008.
We are legally a Not-For-Profit Organization, which allows us to keep the costs relatively low compared to certain other testing labs, because of the support of the Austrian Government and partnerships with Universities.
When I (Andreas) started doing the public tests in 2003, I did it for free and asked users if they wanted to donate something. Practically no one donated, and based on the high demand for continuing the tests, and the increasing complexity of the tests, I had to start asking all vendors to pay a fee. Nevertheless, my goal of providing independent tests has not changed at all - it allows us to further improve the tests and their relevance for the public.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/forum/index.php?page=Thread&postID=3798#post3798

A Guy

[Raymond]

Just seeing some childishness by one of the party (not saying who though).

[Funkysourav]

In my own often flawed impressions,
i find the comodo guys always raise a Hue and cry when the results/observations are not to their liking
they call AVC unethical, but they had no qualms at all when making deals with Matousec.

well that's what "I" think anyway.

[A Guy]

Yes, the feel is Comodo is at fault here. They didn't like the results, and so they are attempting to impugn AV-Comparatives reputation. If nothing else, publishing private emails is reprehensible behavior, and no doubt indicative. A Guy

[FunkY]

In my country emails are private. Same way than post which comes to postbox/letterbox to streets. So here that move from Comodo would be illegal and against law.

Never been a fan of Comodo and here comes more proof to just sail away. . . . .

[JayCub]

I have had time to speak to Melih in the past when i was beta testing and through the forum and found the guy to be a gentleman, maybe not everyones cup of tea, but i like him and everthing he proposed at the time i was there was carried out... most of the discussion here has been replied too as Raymond mentioned not enough information to form an accurate opinion on it...Melih is not one to shy away from any debate or on any forum..

[brightspark]

Hey Guys - Very interesting discussion here. My view - where there's smoke, there's generally fire.

Amounts of money changing hands are not insignificant - 500 euros, 1500 euros, 2000 euros - these are substantial sums of money. A lot more than I would have expected for a basic service. Call be cynical, but where covert transactions involving undisclosed amounts of money are concerned, I tend to suspect the worst.

Based on the reports from both sides and if I am reading the situation correctly: personally, I believe Comodo have a point. Comodo's software does not do too well in test results so AV-Comparatives tell Comodo they will maintain the results internally (in other words not release them publicly) for a payment of 500 euros...hmmm.

Cheers all...Jim