News

Anonymous Site Threatens to Leak IE 9 Beta, Pulls Last Minute

• By Becky Nagel
• September 13, 2010

The Web site IEbest.com posted late yesterday that it plans to release IE 9 to its readers, two days before Microsoft plans to release it (typos shown): "IEbest.com will release the IE9 beta installer on september 13th (2 days before MS)," the short, three-line post reads in part, "please pay attention."

But this morning, the Web site appears to have changed its mind. Between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. this morning it posted (typos shown): "Sorry, for some reason, we have to cancel the launch event, think for your attention."

The post comes a few weeks after the site released a video preview of the beta on the site. In that post, the site hinted that it may release the preview at some point: "Our Web site has got the IE9 Beta installer through a certain insider of Microsoft. Unfortunately, we cannot offer you the complete installer now."

There's no information about who runs IEbest.com, which launched last month. The About Us page of the site says only that it's a "vanguard place to find, publish, discuss and exchange the information about the newest and the best Internet Explorer in the world."

And the domain information for the site appears to be fake: The domain was registered on August 9 to a James Olson in Kansas City, Mo., but it's an old address for James Olson's contruction company and lists non-working phone number. This reporter reached Olson through his current contact information, and when told about the site, he replied, "I have no idea what you're talking about...This is definitely not my site." Olson confirmed that his company hasn't been at the address listed on the domain registration "for years now."

This reporter attempted to reach the owners of IEBest.com via their e-mail adddress but did not recieve a response by press time.