Hello all –

It seems as though I only jump into the forums these days when there is some hot topic that needs a quick reply before it spirals out of control with rumors and mis-information. I’ll have to change that! I rather love a good discussion.

On the topic of toolbars:

Toolbars have become such a sensitive issue in our business, particularly because several companies have chosen to distribute them without any restrictions, or without challenging the existing system to result in social change. But for us here at Lavasoft, toolbar issues are no worse than most of the other issues that we deal with – so we don’t consider it a forbidden topic at all.

The fact that we have talked with Ask regarding toolbars is nothing that we feel the need to hide. One would be hard-pressed to find a company these days that has not been approached by Ask (or Yahoo, Google, or a plethora of other search engines) to distribute their toolbar. So, even those that are saying “shame on you” to anyone that is distributing the toolbar have most likely been approached and talked to Ask as well.

Why are we different? We are actually engaged in extensive and in-depth discussions with Ask directly. Instead of just saying ‘no’ and then pointing a damning finger at everyone else who chooses to distribute a toolbar, we choose the uncommon path of trying to make a real difference in the industry. We’re involved in an analysis of their toolbar, based on Lavasoft’s detection criteria (which set the standard for this entire industry of anti-spyware detection, I might add), that could actually result in a clean toolbar. We are working with Ask the same way that we would work with any other company that approaches us with an application that could be considered questionable. We analyze the application. We have consistent and ongoing talks with them about what changes are necessary in order to have a clean application. They decide whether they can or cannot make those changes. If they can make the required changes, then we have done our job to create social change in our industry. And I assure you it is no easy task to meet the criteria from our research lab! If they cannot make the required changes, then we still feel very confident that we have given them all of the knowledge necessary to provide an application that Lavasoft believes is acceptable for consumer privacy and security.

Many people say that Ask has a bad reputation. So what? Does that mean that we should turn a blind eye to our core corporate ethics of creating change in our industry? Yes, we work with those that everyone else likes to call “the bad guys”. We think that is pretty cool. It creates an opportunity to really make a difference.

And another thing about toolbars…the cynics say that it is just about the money…making a quick buck (yes, search engine companies pay their toolbar partners – that’s business folks). But really, think about it. If Lavasoft were just out to make a quick buck, wouldn’t we just develop software and send it out to you, year after year? Instead, we spend exhaustive hours and energy actually trying to get “the bad guys” to create their applications without compromising computer users (yourself included). When you buy Ad-Aware, or even take the freeware version, you are a part of the process of creating real change in this industry. The option? There are plenty of other companies out there that are extremely good at marketing the newest bells and whistles on their products – and are busy pointing fingers at all of the bad things being done by everyone else. That’s not interesting for Lavasoft employees. We’re here for the real change. We’re in it for the long haul.

So to answer your original question, winchester73, “Is the AskToolbar coming?” It’s not out of the question. If we can find a way to create change in the toolbar arena, we will certainly find a way to get it into the hands and onto the computers of consumers who want a clean toolbar. Of course it would be prominently disclosed. Of course it would be opt-in only. Of course we take things like that into consideration.

So, for all the naysayers out there that that say Lavasoft is only about the money…they’re way off base. They just have no idea of how much effort we put in to make real industry change…on their behalf. So for that, we forgive them.

For those of you who are open enough to understand what it takes to fight malware AND create social change at the same time, we thank you, and hope you are in it with us for the long haul.

Cheers –

Michael

It seems as though I only jump into the forums these days when there is some hot topic that needs a quick reply before it spirals out of control with rumors and mis-information.

So, for all the naysayers out there that that say Lavasoft is only about the money…they’re way off base. They just have no idea of how much effort we put in to make real industry change…on their behalf. So for that, we forgive them.

EPIC and five other groups filed a complaint ( http://www.epic.org/privacy/ask/epic_askeraser_011908.pdf ) with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that Ask.com is engaging in unfair and deceptive trade practices with the representations concerning AskEraser ( http://sp.ask.com/en/docs/about/askeraser.shtml ), a search service that purports to protect privacy. Among the critical points highlighted by the consumer privacy coalition: (1) users must accept an AskEraser cookie and disable a genuine privacy feature in browsers that block cookies; (2) the AskEraser cookie is a unique persistent identifier that makes it easy for Ask.com, its business partners, and the government to track the activities of AskEraser users; and (3) Ask.com will disable the search delete feature -- the central purpose of the Ask Eraser service -- without notice to the user. The complaint follows a December letter ( http://www.epic.org/privacy/ask/EPIC_%20AskEraser.pdf ) to Ask.com describing these security and privacy problems.

... I do do not see the need for any antispyware program to have any search functionality inbuilt...