Shame on Creative

[StanTheMan]

Dear anandtechers,
I'm sure all of us concerns about our privacy when we are surfing the net. We know that many shareware or freeware that we download expose our data for marketing purpose in order to track our interest, and later they present us with some advertisement.Unfortunately, a once restpectful hardware/software company, Creative labs, does this shameful conduct. They include advertisement in their latest LiveWare 3 driver for Win9x. If you are using this software, try to open:

C:\Program Files\CREATIVE\Launcher

and if I'm not mistaken, there will be a folder called custom (any folder beside group and plugins is the advertisement). If you open the folder, you will see some dll files, and if you see its properties, you'll see some that says Creative advertising engine tools, etc. Please beware !!! (Sorry for my poor english)

 

[Terp]

Yea, I noticed that too; however, I am sure they will say that it is in our best interest to have the ads, as it keeps the cost down...they can offer their products at a cheaper price, given the fact they have extra revenue from the advertisements.

 

[Ladi]

Ya know...data collection (when what data will be collected is fully disclosed) and targeted advertising isn't such an evil thing...Ads on the 'net are never going to go away, so wouldn't you rather see ads for things that might vaguely interest you instead of random, say...home and gardening ads instead of tech? Note that when apps *do* collect information about surfing habits and the like, they do NOT specifically connect that information with you as an individual, but rather you as a member of the demographic group that's male/female, between x and y age, that lives in a certain region...

~Ladi