Slashdot.org - Don't Eat the Yellow Links (Jul. 31/01)
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don't eat the yellow links By Roblimo
July 31, 2001
from the suddenly-popping-up-all-over-the-place dept.
If you have a popular file-sharing program called KaZaA on your computer and
suddenly start seeing yellow links to obvious ads on some of your favorite Web
sites, this is because a cunning piece of software called TopText was automatically
installed on your computer along with KaZaA. Many Web site owners are upset
with this alteration of their content. But there is an opt-out procedure (albeit
a somewhat cumbersome one) you can use to keep TopText links from being added
to your site, according to the company that markets TopText.
We learned about TopText (which was called HOTText until the end
of last week) because a number of Slashdot readers submitted a San Francisco
Chronicle story about it.
Cyklopz wrote, "...this is quite insidious. I found a link
from BankOne's site to Wells Fargo! It crops up all over search engine results
as well. Sheesh!"
Microsoft has removed (at least temporarily) a similar, but less
blatantly commercial feature called Smart Tags from their upcoming release of
MSIE 6.0 because it upset so many people.
KaZaA has an opt-out dialog for TopText when it is installed,
but Benny Evangelista, who wrote the Chronicle story, says that neither he nor
other people he spoke to who had downloaded KaZaA spotted it until they knew
it was there and went looking for it.
KaZaA claims over 5.4 million Web users have downloaded their
software so far, and boasts on their Web site that "...KaZaA is one of
the most active media communities on the net, usually there are over 600 000
users online simultaneously. 90% of users are recommending KaZaA, which is the
4th most downloaded program on C|Net Download.com."
I both emailed and called TopText's vendor, San Francisco-based
eZula, to ask if there was any way we could keep their TopText links from showing
up on OSDN Web sites, including Slashdot. Since we often use links as integral
parts of our stories, we would just as soon select our own, right? Plus there
is a little matter of keeping ads apart from editorial material, which is one
of those silly ethics things only journalists who care about their personal
integrity may notice, but that upset us to the point of irrationality when we
spot them.
