Is Zwinky Spyware?

Lisa Braziel | July 16, 2007 | View Comments

Today I decided to check out Zwinky.com to get a feel for it and how it works. To start, I had to sign up – which I was expecting – however what I wasn’t expecting was to do anything in this virtual world I had to download “add on” programs.

Feeling a little too lazy to sift through a 21 page user agreement, and curious to the detriment of my downloads, I discovered an article by The Media Desk that points out that once the Zwinky is installed, the MyWebSearch toolbar is installed. Zwinky tells you this in the agreement. But what they don’t tell you is that this toolbar collects personal information through tracking cookies and pixel tags, which allows the company to see where you came from, what you do on the web, and how long you stay there.

Yes – this is spyware. And those harmless emoticons are installed automatically without a user’s knowledge are what’s known as malware. Put on without your knowledge, and sometimes more harmful to uninstall.

Humorously enough, Zwinky states the following:

“We hate adware and spyware as much as you do. Toolbar companies that sneak these annoyances into their downloads hurt the reputation of every company that provides a free toolbar for download. Rest assured, we only provide fun features on our toolbar”