2 Comments

The Stigma Enigma

Sep 22, 2005
by

When the old-world Adware industry crashes to the ground and we walk away from the flames of a 21st Century Gotterdammerung, how many forms of online moneymaking will have been irrevocably tarnished forever? It’s an interesting question. For example…toolbar.

Just one little word – yet how many of you immediately thought, AHH! SPYWARE!!

Exactly.

For most of us, the humble toolbar – something that can provide many benefits when employed correctly – now has a certain kind of stigma attached to it, primarily as a result of the fun and game spyware antics and browser hijacks of the past few years. The mere mention of a toolbar makes me slightly twitchy, and a touch look-over-the-shouldery too (shouldery not a word? Oh well, it is now).

As an example…

This past fortnight, I have been trying out a well known, respected music download site. Lots of free music (whether you keep the subscription or not). Quite a wide selection. I even considered purchasing a subscription, though I decided not to go through with it. However…

They offered up a deal – I get their IE toolbar, in return for a free download every day. Now, that’s a pretty good deal. I already pillaged their free offer and got about 4 albums out of it. So I thought, what the heck – hit me. I have no problems with your privacy statement, no big deal with what you do (or don’t) choose to do with my personal data. Fair exchange.

But oh my God, you should’ve seen me with that .EXE sitting on my desktop. You’d have thought it’d crawled out from underneath a large, slimy rock, such was my poke-it-with-a-stick reaction. I scanned that sucker with Ad-Aware, Spybot, X-Cleaner, Counterspy, Avast and about a zillion other programs too. Of course, all scans came up clean (as I expected).

Totally irrational.

Totally stupid.

Yet I couldn’t help myself – simply because of the conditioning my mind has gone through from watching years of toolbar-popping action in browser hijacks.

Will this Gotterdammerung finish with hordes of angry toolbar makers whacking those fallen idols with large planks of wood? I doubt it, though it does make you wonder how many other people’s ability to generate (legitimate) online revenue through other kinds of software has been sabotaged forever.

Now, if you’ll excuse me – I have to go poke Internet Explorer with a stick some more. I have an itch that just won’t quit…

Filed under: Adware, Spyware, Greynets, & Internet Fraud
  • Caz

    How about a backscratcher, would that help?

  • http://www.custom-toolbars.com Marty R. Milette

    Unfortunately, the few ‘honest’ toolbars have indeed taken the wrath of users as a result of the spyware, parasite, adware and other creepy applications of an otherwise good technology.

    What’s interesting is that, as far as my own toolbar system goes, I’ve had offers from clients all over the world to develop different kinds of toolbars — and without fail — it is the US-based companies that seem most willing to cross the line and request applications that I simply refuse to develop.

    We’re talking about features like:

    - Forced Install
    - Hidden Install
    - Report all URLs back
    - Report all searches back
    - Forcibly and hidden set home page
    - Forcibly and hidden set default search engine
    - Forcibly generate un-blockable pop-ups
    - Install and run hidden executables
    - Bypass all security and anti-virus tools
    - The list goes on…

    What’s sad is that I’m able to generate the most powerful and incredibly useful toolbars imaginable. Ones that can save countless hours of time and effort. Ones that can be customized on a per-user basis to make the Internet and use of ones’s own computer a pleasure.

    However, there will always be people around who’s sole motivation is the almighty dollar — and who will do ANYTHING to get it.

    These people don’t care about you, your wants, your needs, your security or safety — as long as they can line their pockets with your money, or by taking advantage of actions you perform (even one lousy click!).

    They’ll infect your machine, using whatever means necessary, and they won’t stop — EVER.