Ben Edleman has a good investigative piece on Yahoo’s support of adware/spyware. Its incredible how much effort and detail documentation Ben puts into his efforts. Big props and (envy) to Ben. And as aways, when Ben puts out one of his pieces it creates a lot of echo and reverberation. Threadwatch has a couple posts on Yahoo, first commenting on Ben and second on some questionable bundling tactices . Even Jeremy Z of Yahoo chimed in unfavroably while being called out by MakeYouGoHmm.

Companies make mistakes especially with affiliate, so I’ll wait until I see how Yahoo responds to the latest controversy before I proclaim their evilness for this particular issue. Yahoo’s 3721 search tool bar, however, is another issue. It is even more aggerssive than IM in installing itself into users’ machines. (not quite spyware, but close to weatherbug) and next to impossible to uninstall for a novice user. I asked a Chinese friend what he thinks of 3721 (thinking there might be cultural difference in defining acceptable web practices) and he responds.

3721 是我最讨厌的流氓软件。Can’t believe Yahoo likes it.

(translation, “its my most hated gansta software”)

So asked him, “In China do people know what spyware is ?”

and he responds . .

Of course they do. 3721 hired some windows expert to make sure it’s very tough to remove its spyware

So there you go, this is my version of investigated detective work. Quite lame and unconvincing? thought so, but I’m leaving the real work to Ben

BTW, Billsdue has similar thoughts here. Plus passionate defense for and against 3721 in the comment section. Also found a removal guide for 3721. Even if you dont know Chinese, you’ll recognize the window screens. . .