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Dell Finally Dealing with Spyware
Posted by Rebecca Bolin on Thursday, October 21 @ 11:26:27 EDT Privacy
Dell has made a surprising announcement that it will provide a software in November for customers to deal with spyware including firewall, anti-virus software, and anti-spyware software. Dell has not announced a vendor yet and plans to educate consumers about spyware also.

This is a big change from Dell's position last year. Last December, an alleged memo circulated the Internet claiming Dell technicians were barred from even suggesting sites such as download.com where consumers could find anti-spyware software. Dell's position was that uninstalling spyware could invalidate licenses or hurt functionality of programs. Some alleged Dell was trying to protect the functionality of its own spyware.

But Dell has changed its tune since December. In April, Dell testified to the FTC Spyware Workshop that spyware was the top cause on customer support calls. Now, Dell claims 20% of calls are about spyware.

 
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The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.

Dell's Own Spyware? (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 26 @ 03:06:23 EDT
Aren't they the ones who installed Weatherbug on new machines? They should expect a lot of calls, especially as more people like me educate people on the dangers of spyware (I lecture on such things at a local library). If they're changing their tune for real, however, more power to them.


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Dell profited from Claria spyware from February to June 2004 (Score: 1)
by BenEdelman on Wednesday, October 27 @ 09:29:32 EDT
(User Info | Send a Message) http://www.benedelman.org
From at least February to June 2004, Claria (Gator) was running ads for Dell. See my "Dell's Spyware Puzzle." The Dell ads appeared when users visited HP, IBM, Sony, Amazon, etc. Dell claims these ads were unauthorized, placed by an affiliate. But how could Dell have let this happen for so many months? Doesn't Dell supervise its affiliate program to watch for these kinds of problems? Maybe not. My subsequent research found Dell also being cheated by 180solutions [www.benedelman.org] -- affiliate commissions claimed by 180 even when 180 hadn't referred or facilitated a sale in any way that entitled 180 to an affiliate commission.


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