Uninstall Digsby: It Preys On You And Abuses You

6 Comments

Kyle Buckley (Senior Editor)

on August 14th, 2009 at 02:45 PM

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Add dotSyntax, the company that owns Digsby, to the list of scumbag companies. Digsby uses your computer to crawl the web, download crap, and do market research all without your knowledge.

Digsby, the IM/email client for Windows has always come with craplets or crapware, those do-nothing programs that get in your way and cause your system to crash. But now the Digsby program comes bundled with six craplets. I know, users can opt out of installing the crapware, but dotSyntax is obviously preying on the uneducated computer user who clicks Next on installation screens without reading what they are doing. That practice is unethical in my book.

The crapware is one thing, but now Digsby is using your computer's processor and your internet bandwidth to make money for itself without your knowledge. Deep in the terms of service which very few of us read, it is mentioned that the program will use your processor to do market research and crawl the web.
15. USAGE OF COMPUTER RESOURCES.

You agree to permit the Software to use the processing power of your computer when it is idle to run downloaded algorithms (mathematical equations) and code within a process. You understand that when the Software uses your computer, it likewise uses your CPU, bandwidth, and electrical power. The Software will use your computer to solve distributed computing problems, such as but not limited to, accelerating medical research projects, analyzing the stock market, searching the web, and finding the largest known prime number. This functionality is completely optional and you may disable it at any time.

And of course the method of disabling this background spyware gimmick is difficult to find. It's hidden in a Support Digsby menu.

It isn't clear exactly what the program will be downloading, what sites it will access and what, if any, personal data it gathers from the computer. With that in mind, how do you know that Digsby isn't using your computer for illegal activities?

I don't begrudge dotSyntax for wanting to make money, but they aren't up front with how they are doing it. They are abusing their customers by squeezing in bundled craplets, and they are using customers' computers to do server work. It's time to uninstall the spyware that is Digsby.

Tags: crapware , malware , spyware

Categories: Technology

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Comments

Kyle Buckley - August 14th, 2009 05:26 PM

Digsby has commented on this unethical issue here: http://blog.digsby.com/archives/693

And this response doesn't change my stance. The only users who would have known about the method of revenue earning would be those who follow the digsby blog. How many could that be? Why didn't Digsby just send an email to all the users saying that Digsby was going to use the customers' computers to make money. Because, the users wouldn't have allowed it to happen.

No one would want to let their computer be controlled by a company.
- Reply

Erickd - August 14th, 2009 06:01 PM

Hi Kyle,

We made a lengthy post( http://blog.digsby.com/archives/68) explaining the feature when we introduced it but we realize that as we've grown, new users were not aware of it.

We updated Digsby to make the option more transparent. Check out our blog post where we in explain in detail the revenue models we are testing and ask for your feedback - http://blog.digsby.com/archives/693

-Erick, from the Digsby team.
- Reply
Karl Martineau - August 14th, 2009 06:28 PM

Thanks for your comment Erick. We saw that post and commented on it as well. We appreciate that you guys have taken a step toward honesty and made some of these things more open and transparent.

But our stance remains that a company that installs crapware on their end-users' computer is unethical. In our experience, too many people just click through installations without even looking at what they're installing, or even think that somehow the program will work better if they install all the other stuff with it.

Kudos on the quick reply to the negative press, but it's just not convincing to me. How long would this have continued unnoticed if not for the Lifehacker article making it public? And what will be snuck into the fine print next? The problem I see is less with your revenue model and more with your misleading of customers, who I think are owed an apology.

As long as there is a good open source alternative (and there is - Pidgin/Adium) we'll be recommending those.
- Reply
dksBeet - August 14th, 2009 06:47 PM

I'm not using Digsby again.
- Reply
macelly - August 15th, 2009 10:45 AM

Digsby hasn't done anything honorable by changing the program. They are only change it because they were in hot water. I have never and I will never use Digsby. Their revenue stream depends on stupid people and people who don't read fine print. Pretty unethical.

Anyone who would willingly submit their computer to be in control of a company to crawl the web is a jackass. Who knows what kind of sites it would be accessing.
- Reply
Pidgin User - August 15th, 2009 04:16 PM

glad I use Pidgin and not the ad-bloated craplet that is Digsby
- Reply

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Uninstall Digsby: It Preys On You And Abuses You

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