C/Net.com - "Spyware" Piggybacks on Napster Rivals (May 14/01)
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"Spyware" piggybacks on napster rivals
By John Borland May 14, 2001
As online file traders stream to Napster alternatives, many
find their computers saddled with unwanted piggyback software that tracks their
online movements and feeds them unwanted advertising.
In efforts to locate revenues from their free services, companies that create
popular programs, including BearShare, Audiogalaxy Satellite and iMesh, are
adding outside pieces of software that have nothing to do with file trading.
Dubbed "adware," or "spyware" by their critics,
these software programs run in the background even when the original file-swapping
software isn't operating, popping up advertisements while people surf online,
and sometimes quietly uploading information about a Web surfer's habits.
The programs have sparked a swell of protest from some people
computer-savvy enough to figure out what software is running on their machines
and what it is doing. But the companies defend themselves, saying there are
worse alternatives and they need some revenue sources if they are to continue
to offer their products for free.
"One of the issues around free software is the need to make
money somehow," said Vinnie Falco, chief technical officer of FreePeers,
the company that created the BearShare Gnutella software. "It's a great
compromise between protecting user privacy and the ability to support free software."
File-swapping companies aren't alone in a scramble for revenues
that is threatening to alienate some people online. The drive for personal information
that might be valuable for advertising purposes has prompted several companies
to offer software that collects this data and sometimes sends it back to the
parent company. Although most of the companies doing this are relatively small,
even larger companies such as RealNetworks have occasionally tried to keep surreptitious
tabs on computer users' actions.
"This is all over," said Richard Smith, chief technical
officer for the Privacy Foundation. "Anytime you're downloading a piece
of software, you're basically trusting the company not to do anything too bad."
