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The Software Formerly Known As Spyware
from the can't-keep-a-good-rant-down dept
In October, Gator threatened legal action against a site that dared to call its software spyware. They claim that it's only spyware if it's downloaded without the person knowing about it. Having just spent some of my Thanksgiving vacation removing Gator from my father's computer, I beg to differ. Most people who end up with Gator on their system have no idea how it got there - which appears to fit even Gator's own definition of spyware. Now, despite changing their name to Claria, it appears that Gator won't be able to shake the critics they threatened to sue. While PC Pitstop agreed to remove pages calling Gator spyware, they're coming back with a new site that is just as critical of Claria/Gator. Apparently, they've carefully worded the site to abide by the terms of the settlement. They don't call Gator spyware, but give the definition of spyware and then explain how Gator matches that definition. Should be interesting to see how Gator responds. Of course, the angrier they get, the more attention will get drawn to the way they get their application onto computers.
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You know, Gator is based not far from my house.
I'm always tempted to go out there and hassle their employees. But then I think that I'm not the first person who's thought of that and they have probably already issued tasers and pepper-gas guns to the receptionist staff. ;)
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funny
It's funny, but every time we receive an email rererring to spyware here at work they always include the line "i.e. Gator" to let everyone know what spyware is supposed to look like. And this is email coming down from the government's computer security group. I wonder if Gator wants to sue the DoD because they've classified them as spyware?
For that matter, Gator accounts for about 90% of all the spyware found on DoD systems.
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Gator Bytes ...
Mike ... I can sympathize with you about removing Gator from your Dad's computer ... @ least once a month I have to remove this damn SPYWARE from my Mom's computer. She gets madder & madder & swears and declares she hasn't downloaded anything. It's gotten so bad that I had to tell her that if she did not stop yelling @ me about it I would stop removing it from her computer. IT IS SPYWARE !
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