Yahoo! playing both sides of the spyware issue
Mike Healan
June 2, 2004
As many of you no doubt have heard, Yahoo! recently released a new toolbar which they claim detects and removes spyware. The toolbar uses technology licensed from Pest Patrol, the vendor of a popular antispyware product.
Unfortunately, it turns out that Yahoo! has decided to set the toolbar to ignore all so-called "adware". The toolbar forces the user specifically to set it to seek out adware.
The reason for this decision appears to be the business relationship between Overture, which is owned entirely by Yahoo!, and the Claria corporation, which creates and distributes Gator. As it turns out, Yahoo!, through Overture, provides 31% of Claria's entire annual revenue.
A Yahoo! spokesperson tried to deflect the issue by stating that they use Pest Patrol's antispyware technology, which itself makes a distinction between "adware" and "spyware". However, Pest Patrol's software does not ignore "adware" either by default or as an option. This change was made entirely by Yahoo!
The spokesperson also tried to portray the decision as one giving choice to the user. In fact, the user has the choice already when they see the results list. The user can choose which software to remove and which to leave alone. Unless, of course, they forget to check the box for adware and then they end up with no choice at all, in the matter of adware.
Yahoo! is playing both sides of the issue, with users caught in the middle. Yahoo! could legitimize the activities of such companies as Claria, WhenU.com, Lop.com and coolwebsearch.com. These are all companies who spend significant effort trying to portray their software as "adware". In fact, the practices of all of these companies have come into question numerous times. In Utah, for instance, Gator and WhenU.com's advertising and installation practices are illegal.
This is an unfortunate situation. Yahoo! needs to decide whose side they are on, their users or the parasites. I would encourage all users of this toolbar to express their opinion to Yahoo!. This is a beta test after all and they are soliciting opinions from their users. I say we should take them up on that offer.
