bit.ly acts to protect users, but not using SBW data

A story over on TechCrunch.com last night reported that URL-shortening service bit.ly, well known to Twitter users, has started warning users of links that may lead to badware. The article indicated that some of the data was coming from StopBadware. But, despite the much-appreciated link from bit.ly’s warning pages to our site, we are not providers of the data, some of which comes from Google’s Safe Browsing team, the same folks that provide much of the data in our Clearinghouse. Also, according to this blog post from bit.ly, they have been using this data to protect users for some time. I suspect that what’s new is the warning message displayed to users of the service when they encounter a potentially harmful URL.

Confused reporting aside, congrats to Bit.ly for taking this important step in protecting unsuspecting users from malware and phishing sites.