Google defines good manners for adware
One of my favorite things about Google was that it was “just search“. I despise the scumware that infests computers, since I'm one of those people who spends a considerable amount of time removing it from friends' and family computers. But is this really Google's place? I'm not such a big fan of leveraging one's status for social engineering.
Google defines good manners for adware
In an attempt to cut down on misbehaving adware and spyware, Google has released a set of suggested principles for software makers to follow when writing programs that embed themselves on Internet users' PCs.
But here's an interesting tidbit in the article:
In a sense, Google's move is a defensive, self-regulatory measure aimed at encouraging the mainstream software industry to find a way to make spyware and adware acceptable.
Could it be, then, that Google is not engineering, but is rather looking at distribution partnerships or potential acquisitions of the companies that make their adware palatable to the general public? Is Claria's GAIN the next AdWords outlet? Is this a serious profit motive cloaked in some warm and cuddly “looking out for the general public” banter?