Alot of companies use "spyware." Do I agree with it? Of course not. But the reality is, tons of them do. Sony even has "spyware" out there .

In some aspects, I wouldn't look at it as spyware, but as information gathering tools to help them focus their designs, the needs of the customers and so forth. They need to know what works and what doesn't.

I have a Lexmark, but it's installed on my parents' comp and I just network it. I wouldn't notice if it had much spyware on it because that computer can't get much slower.

WARNING: Prosecutors will be violated

As it says in that article and has been offered to many other articles that reported about the allegations, Lexmark has issued an official statement in response to the allegations, which is:

"Lexmark Connect is a voluntary program that is fully disclosed to all users during the installation process for a new printer. During this process, a registration screen will appear that will allow the user to choose to participate, or not participate in this program. A user MUST review this page and click "continue", or the registration process will not install the program or the printer."



I'm the one working for Lexmark btw and I haven't heard anything more about this internally other than what is mentioned in the statement, which is that people can choose to participate or not.

Edited by - Eraser on 11/20/2004 3:20:26 PM

Eraser -Thanks for posting, and I would like to state that my post wasn't a criticism of Lexmark in any way . Still, although the installation may be voluntary, I still feel that such programs are on the borderline of being spyware as even though they may not technically fit the definition, and are installed through user acquiescence rather than stealth, they still send information back to the company in question. I guess that it is up to the user; if they don't read the privacy policies and EULAs then they deserve what they get. That being said, it doesn't mean that I have to like such programs .

Edited by - esquilax on 11/20/2004 3:46:57 PM