You are being followed by Netscape/AOL every time you use the SmartDownload add-on or Netscape Navigator’s Search function. The information on what you download or search for is sent to Netscape to help build a profile on you.

Netscape is being cheeky. Whether it’s breaking privacy laws –

hmmm. It might be, but we see it more a question of whether you

can prove beyond reasonable doubt that Netscape is selling this

information. It certainly isn’t doing itself any favours by being a bit

insidious and not asking or telling people what it is doing. This

whole case (and this article) are as a result of that. But then you can

never teach a big company such ‘soft’ tactics. Never forget that big

companies couldn’t give a monkey’s about your rights unless it costs

them money.

The resulting bad publicity from all this will most likely cause some

chances in the next Navigator version. Partly because of uproar but,

sadly, mostly because Microsoft will use the furore to sell Explorer. It

will also get those wanting to stick with Netscape to upgrade faster.

All publicity can be good publicity if you handle it right.

The Register [via RobotWisdom]