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Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Bad AOL, bad

At last someone has put AOL on notice for their download process. StopBadware.org, is sort of a Neighborhood Watch aimed at notifying people about badware...you know, hateful stuff like pop-up adware and spyware. Funded by Google, Lenovo and Sun and run out of Harvard's Berkman Center and the Oxford University Internet Institute, we've talked about them here before.

AOL 9.0 is now on StopBadware.org's "Open Inquiries" list with a warning not to install because of deceptive installation practices, making changes to other software without the user's permission, and failure to uninstall completely. Here, here! I have outlawed AOL at home because of the stuff it's done to our computers at home.

AOL is in the midst of a big transition. They've opened up their services and even launched a movie and music downloads. "However, if they keep shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to their reputation, consumers may begin avoiding AOL and their properties in droves."