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An interview with Ad-Aware's Nicholas Stark
Andrew Leonard writes: "In the wake of the Ad-Aware/RadLight spyware vs. anti-spyware showdown, Salon has an interview with Ad-Aware's Nicholas Stark, who explains in no uncertain terms Lavasoft's determination to match every move by the spyware developers."
"You are not allowed to use any third party program (e.g. Ad-Aware) to uninstall applications bundled with RadLight."
As far as I know a license statement should only apply to when one is using software, I think legally a court would uphold that a license cannot tell someone what hardware or other software they can or cannot use.
The interesting thing with this is that the are forcing users to comply with a license which is probably not even legal.
As for uninstalling software without any other warning, wouldn't this be on the same level as a destructive virus? I sure as hell wouldn't pout my name on a virus.
Also it never states that the software will be removed. It says you cannot use other applications to uninstall their spyware. So you can have anti-spyware installed on your computer without breaking this (probably illegal) license.
I would think the company is liable for criminal damage to property much like a virus writer would be.
Chicago2600.net more than a lifestyle, its a survival trait.
That's what he's been doing to them - so why the big ho-ha when he gets a bit of his own medicine?
Simple, because that is what is his users ASK of him. Most people download spyware don't know that it's there. When was the last time you intentionally installed Cydoor? When was the last time your version of p2p software said in big letters "This software will install spyware now Yes/No"?
Now if he packaged ad-aware inside of kazaalite and didn't tell anyone what he was doing, THEN he'd be getting a taste of his own medicine. This, however, is completely different.
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
Dude, while I agree in general with you, who says this needs to go to court? Think of it this way...
Someone writes a "contract" that says if you happen to walk across a particular stretch of sidewalk, not only will they keep that sidewalk clean for you, but you agree to give them 50% of your salary for the next year. Then they post a copy of it well off the sidewalk, where it isn't easily read (not without binoculars). So, curious, you walk across that sidewalk up closer to it, so you can read the "sign"... is there any reasonable person that would contend you agreed to this contract?
If the dumbass that pulled the stunt took you to court for breach of contract, would the judge even hear it, or would he toss it out, only after chastising the plaintiff's lawyer?
How is a EULA any different?
We do offer an enhanced version of Ad-Aware called Ad-Aware Plus, [which costs $15]. But money is not the primary goal and has never been; it's mainly used to pay the server and bandwidth costs. We all have "regular" jobs or are students, and do this in our spare time (although it uses up a lot).
Perhaps if they included some sort of advertising program with ad-aware, they could make some real money!
Well, except that's *not* what Ad-Aware and similar products do. They *don't* make a clear connection between uninstalling 'spyware' and decreasing functionality of a program.
I've worked personally on both sides of this fence, with one of the companies named in the interview. I can't tell you how many times I had email exchanges with users that ran like this:
USER: Suddenly my version of [Product] won't work! I get a message it's missing [filename]; what happened?
RESPONSE: You may have installed a program that "removes spyware" that has removed that program element. Programs like that are designed to remove advertising software from your computer. You're welcome to do that, but if you don't want to see ads, the free version of [Product] is not for you. You should try [Pay Version of Product] or some other product that is not ad sponsored.
USER: But I don't understand! The program said it would get rid of evil viruses and bad programs! It didn't say it would remove parts of the programs I use. Why doesn't it say your programs might not work any more?
RESPONSE: We suggest writing to the support address of the "spyware removal" program with your concern. Maybe they will change their documentation to make that more clear.
I myself was *personally* responsible for making sure that software that included ad components had clear, readable EULAs. The software had to all but slap the user in the face with the information -- it had a first line that said, in all caps, that the program was AD SUPPORTED and would DISPLAY ADS. It urged, in all caps, that users *read* before they agreed. I fought with developers who wanted to make the EULA less visible, to ensure that it couldn't be dragged off the desktop or otherwise avoided.
The bottom line is that it didn't matter. I could explain to a user in simple plain language what was going on, and the user would still *ignore* the whole text.
I've become increasingly frustrated by the topic of late. From what I can tell, there are people who feel justified in robbing others of income by repackaging software to remove advertising components. For almost all advertising supported software I'm aware of, an ad-free version is offered for a cost. If you don't want ads, or don't want "spyware", pay for the software. It's that simple. But to actively take income from people simply because you don't approve of their business model is heinous.
Actually, now that I think about it, this is not the first instance of this sort of activity. I remember a developer with a popular product which was ad-supported that used to check for ad-removal programs and bring up a popup window that said something like:
"[Anti-adware program] has been found on your system. It may remove files that this software needs. Do you want to remove [Anti-adware program]?"
A pretty nice bit of turnaround, I always thought.
Shouldn't spyware be illegal? Most of it operates as trojan horses, which are similar to viruses, and those are illegal. They mess up the normal functioning of computers and are unauthorized. Maybe they have privacy policies saying that this is ok, but would these policies stand up in court? Often these policies are only made as such so that the consumer won't challenge them, and they are probably questionable legally. You can't take away rights from the consumer that they can't give up.
I mean, if a virus had a license agreement, would it be ok to use it then? And what if the virus attached on to another program with a license agreement that you probably wouldn't read? That is really what these scumware programs are doing. It is an outrage!
Its pretty simple. Radsoft's package can function perfectly well with Ad-Aware also installed. They have nothing directly to do with each other.
Granted, the politics and business of the two clash. I could understand that Radsoft feels threatned by Ad-aware. And it wouldn't be suprising if they took measures to protect their revenue. However, I would expect them to take steps to ensure all installed components remain installed for their application to function.
Of course, Radsoft has done a great job at displaying their attitude towards their users. Not only does their revenue apparently depend on the questionable (and apparently unappreciated by users) practice of spy-ware, but they take the same attitude to underhandedly remove software with which they have a political axe to grind.
One final point. Ad-Aware is considerably different in intent and attitude than any of the software it targets. First, the Ad-Aware user actively selects what components (including applications, libraries, registry entries, and cookies) to remove. Secondly, it is widely supported as it provides even fairly non-technical users the ability to discover hidden software installed on their systems and remove it despite the great lengths that software goes to hide and resist being removed.
If Radsoft and their clients, as well as the apparently growing number of like-minded business and applications developers, dislike the power provided by Ad-Aware then they should seriously re-examine their business plan. There is considerable resistance towards their methods. And simply attempting to remove Ad-Aware does little more than reveal their contempt for their user base.