p2pnet.net News:- AOL has been voted into an exclusive club whose current membership includes the likes of Sharman Networks’ Kazaa p2p application, the Jessica Simpson Screensaver, and Italian Soccer wallpaper.

Because AOL 9.0 (free version) has caught the attention of StopBadware.org, the organization put together by the Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Oxford University’s Oxford Internet Institute and Consumer Reports WebWatch , with support from Google, Lenovo and Sun Microsystems.

AOL 9 (free version), installs “additional software without telling users,” forces users “to take certain actions, adds various components to Internet Explorer and the taskbar without disclosure, may automatically update without the user’s consent, and fails to uninstall completely,” says StopBadware.

And what of Kazaa, Jessica Simpson and Italian Soccer:

The Kazaa p2p application, “misleadingly advertises itself as spywarefree, does not completely remove all components during the uninstall process, interferes with computer use, and makes undisclosed modifications to other software”.

The Jessica Simpson Screensaver is, “bundled with Trojan horses, as well as undisclosed adware, spyware, and a stealth dialer. These bundled applications display pop-up ads, redirect web searches and access to web merchants, attempt to close anti-spyware software, and install modifications to Internet Explorer. Also, uninstallation is difficult and ultimately unsuccessful.”

Italian Soccer wallpaper from EZThemes.com is badware because it’s, “bundled with adware that cannot be closed and uses deceptive prompts during uninstallation. In addition, it does not disclose during installation that its bundled adware will run automatically at startup.”

Do you have thoughts on badware StopBadware should know about? If you do, tell them.

Stay tuned.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 at 9:08 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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