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OpenDNS Says Google-Dell Browser Tool is Spyware
PetManimal writes "David Ulevitch, the founder of OpenDNS, claims that Google and Dell have placed 'spyware' on Dell computers. Ulevitch made the claim based on his observation of the behavior of the Google Toolbar and homepage that comes preinstalled on IE in new Dell machines. He says that a browser redirector sends users who enter nonexistent URLs to a Dell-branded page loaded with Google ads. Another observer, Danny Sullivan, says that this is a different result than what happens on PCs without the redirector. However, the original article notes that Ulevitch has a vested interest in the results of mistyped URLs."
OpenDNS is bummed that Google figured out a way to make money off the proposition. OpenDNS should have thought of that first.
OpenDNS has been doing this for some time, so you're just plain, embarassingly wrong. I use OpenDNS as my forwarding DNS servers and I enjoy their automatic redirection feature, but I always have the option of switching away to other forwarders. Dell's deal is much more stealth and they haven't been nearly as up-front about it.
Huge difference.