If you use the incredible Firefox browser, you may want to make sure that you don’t have the “Print This!” extension installed. This marginally-helpful extension, which puts print and print preview items in the context menu, has an undisclosed feature the developer put in that replaces any Amazon link you click with one that uses his Amazon Associate ID, meatme-20.
If you see “meatme-20” anywhere in an Amazon URL, you’ve been 0wnd and you should probably look for a MeatMe extension. So far, he’s only ‘fessed up to doing this slimy practice in the PrintIt! extension but why would he stop there? If he’s willing to do it once, he’s likely to do it again.
His reasoning is that no one donated to his PayPal fund. Uh huh, so why’d you have to sneak it in without disclosing it anywhere?
[UPDATE (7/27/2005): He’s removed the associate ID—ostensibly because two people donated. Uh huh, the bad PR didn’t have anything to do with it.]