Trojan Toolbars

Recently the annual Windows re-install was due and so I had to install quite a number of software tools on my system. I was surprised that when installing the Macromedia Shockwave browser plug-in for Firefox, I was informed that I would now install the Yahoo toolbar, if I didn’t uncheck a checkbox. This was annoying, but at least they informed me. Then, I installed DivX 5.2.1 and found that it also installed the Google toolbar for Internet Explorer. Without notifying me!

So we recognize that toolbars are creeping into our systems like trojan horses. Users don’t ask for them, they just appear. As a matter of fact I don’t even use Internet Explorer (unless some clever web developer forces me to do so), and I am totally fine with having the standard search box on top of the Firefox user interface. If I cared about page ranks and nifty buttons, I might even install the Google toolbar. But I don’t want Google or DivX to do it for me!

Where is the deeper meaning of all this? I think there are some parallels to the ancient “Browser Wars“. Companies are fighting for influence (power) on the consumer’s desktop. Not only does their search engine move much closer to the user, it also allows them to track the user’s surfing behavior (as is the case with Google toolbar when displaying PageRank).

Not only Google and Yahoo, but also DivX and Macromedia (now Adobe) need to understand that acting against the user’s will isn’t in their favor, in the long run. Having Shockwave and DivX on one’s Computer has gotten the taste of a “necessary evil”.

A decade ago, Microsoft has been sued because they put an MSN icon on all Windows 95 desktops by default. The courts sentenced MS to remove it. Along the same lines, the European Union required MS to open it’s system for media players other than their own. When will there be lawsuits against trojan toolbars?

I am happily awaiting your comments.

Update: In order to make this post a little more complete, I would like to point readers to an online article about browser toolbars and their privacy issues by Tim Anderson.