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The Parasite Economy
By Damien Cave August 2, 2001
There's a new software business model in town -- symbiotic plug-ins
that pay for the privilege of piggybacking on the hot download of the moment.
Every software start-up wants to be the new Napster -- a program
downloaded by millions, with an icon on every desktop. And every month, there's
a new contender: Most recently, the buzz has coagulated around an application
called KaZaA. Over the last two months old KaZaA has hit peer-to-peer critical
mass: A network of 5 million people is using it to trade files of all kinds,
from obscure bootlegs to raunchy porn.
KaZaA's offices also happen to be in Holland, which might make
it more difficult for the U.S. recording industry to put it out of business.
For KaZaA fans, the fun could go on for a while.
But that doesn't mean KaZaA's pleasures come without a price. Everyone who installs
the "free" software will discover that KaZaA is not the only software
program in the package. KaZaA comes bundled with no fewer than five associated
applications. There's New.net, which enables browsers to "see" unofficial
domain names such as .kids, .family and .shop; Webhancer, which tracks user
habits and page speeds; and three others -- Cydoor,OnFlow and EZula -- that
serve or otherwise assist advertisements varying in frequency, form and annoyance.
Some of these programs fall into a class labeled by critics as
"spyware." Because they reside on your hard drive but automatically
"phone home" to outside servers on the Net (to upgrade themselves,
or retrieve ads), they can threaten user privacy and security, say critics --
raising the awful prospect that complete strangers will find out exactly what
you've been downloading. Although users can usually opt out of installing them,
few people choose to do so -- and in KaZaA's case, they don't always enjoy the
option: Cydoor, for example, is mandatory for KaZaA use. "When you're skulking
around the hidden recesses of someone's system, placing hidden software that
captures activity and sends it home to the mothership, you have the capability
to do anything," says Ray Everett-Church, a well-known privacy consultant.
"This includes capturing every keystroke, reading every file. It could
even modify your e-mail after you hit 'send,' adding or deleting things without
your knowledge. You name it, [these programs] can be designed to do it."
