David Li's Random Ideas #1

What's the Problem?

A problem in recent times, especially with the meteoric rise of Twitter, has been the danger of malicious links hidden in shortened URLs generated using sites such as tinyurl.com and bit.ly.

What's the Solution?

Therefore Random Idea #1 is a link checking service where a user afraid of clicking on a potentially maloicious link can simply type it in and check to see if it is safe or not, based on safety ratings from sites such as mywot.com, ensuring peace of mind when clicking on that 'OMG!!11!, Soooo Funny!!1!' link.

How?

It could be coded in basic Javascript & PHP and would probably utilize said URL shortener sites' APIs or another method by which the actual URL could be obtained.

Where is the Money?

Monetisation would be difficult but could be achieved using ads or maybe even a premium
service.

What Next?

There is great potential in this idea for spinoff browser plugins such as a Firefox add-on that shows users whether links are safe or unsafe.