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The Next Java Update Could Make Yahoo Your Default Search Provider
itwbennett writes: At the company's shareholder meeting on Wednesday, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced a partnership with Oracle that could result in Yahoo becoming your default search provider in your browser. Starting this month, when users are prompted to update to the next version of Java, they'll be asked to make Yahoo their default search engine on Chrome (and Internet Explorer, for what it's worth). And, according to a Wall Street Journal report, the button will be checked by default, so if you aren't looking out for it, you might unwittingly find yourself a Yahoo user.
That's not the point, there's a legal issue here. Actually, it's settled case law: opt outs are illegal. End of argument. The checkbox should default to clear (ie the default search engine should NOT be changed because someone forgot to uncheck the box).
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
You obviously have not had to install Java recently. They have been bundling the Ask Toolbar (checked by default, and also making Ask your default search provider) for the last few years.
Honestly, bundling Yahoo is a step up - or at worst sideways. But, it is still criminal that this kind of crapware is enabled by default, preying on the novice users who are not savvy enough to un-check it.
Default installations of OS X don't have Java anymore, which is why your link exists in the first place.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
EU Directive 2002/58 on Privacy and Electronic Communications deals with this, as does the maxim "Silence or lack of objection does not imply informed consent", to paraphrase Munby LJ in G (R on the application of) v Nottingham City Council [2008] EWHC 400 (Admin), para. 56.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Whoosh!
Ask, questionable... Come on, you didn't see that coming?
Ken
Which, depending on the subject, can lead to totally off-topic results
What is off-topic about those results?
The organisation in question's website - which is no longer called the Wisconsin Tourism Federation - comes second in the list, and only because you've used google.de. Use its new name, or use google.com, and it comes top.
Seems like it's working perfectly to me.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Both should be a criminal offence - If I install an application (e.g. Java), then it should do what it needs to do to make that application work, not mess around with *my* environment unnecessarily.
Adobe tries to slip in MacAfee on you when you download their pdf reader.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
If you try to access google.com from Germany, it automatically redirects you to google.de.
If you want the "original" Google from abroad, you need to type google.com/ncr.
This link should work the same all over the world :
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd...
Actually, changing the tires isn't voluntary --- at least not in my state. You'll fail the state safety inspection if you don't change them when they get to the wear bars.
In Windows, use the Java Control Panel and select the "Advanced" tab.
At the very bottom of the list, completely out-of-sight unless you scroll aaaaaaal the way down, in a category called "Beware of the Leopard"... no, sorry, I meant "Miscellaneous"... there's a checkbox labeled "Suppress sponsor offers when installing or updating Java".
Of course, by default it's not checked. Because money.
But check it and apply or "OK" the settings change. In the current implementation, this prevents bundling the Ask.com malware with Java upgrades -- it's a pre-opt-out, and you never have to think of it again. (At least, until Oracle decides the option should auto-magically unset itself when the user's not looking. Because money.)
Assuming this option continues to exist in future Oracle Java versions and is honored for the Yahoo tie-in, this would alleviate the pre-opt-in crapware issue. Big assumptions, of course, because Oracle.
(Or alternately, don't install Java if you don't actually need it. Or install OpenJava rather than Oracle's.)
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
I do. But I went to the Java control panel applet, advanced, and checked that very last option "Suppress Sponsor Offers when Installing or Updating Java". I'd love to know how to do this in the registry.