And the author of this article Winer says Google s AutoLink is Adware: agrees.
“Dave Winer, who I’m not usually a huge fan of, has a wonderful summation of the arguments against Googles ham fisted attempt to resurrect Smart Tags – among many other great points he says it’s adware. I agree.”
And frankly, as much of a Google fanatic as I am, I have to agree, too.
I don’t know enough about Dave as a person to be a fan or to dislike him, but either way, I’m on his side with this.
Here’s what I’m doing about it. It’s not quite a divorce from my hubby Google, but it’s definitely the web equivalent of him sleeping on my couch.
I’m going to have a full-blown affair with Yahoo.
1- I’m uninstalling the Google toolbar in Internet Explorer, even though other people in my house use it. I won’t have Adware, or anything that much like it, in my house, period. It’s one thing for Alexa to track my site, it’s quite another for my pages to be modified against my will.
2- I’m not displaying Adsense ads on my site until this is fixed. That’s right, I’m putting my protest where my pocket is. I’m that upset about it.
3- I can still get the Google Page rank bar in Firefox, from the extensions page. So I have the one real useful tool.
That’s stage one of my protest. I’m trying to be nice but I can’t even believe that the buzz on this thing is that bad, and “dont be evil” Google is doing Nothing about it.
If bloggers and blogging can get people who mis-represent themselves fired, then I bet you they can make stock plummet. That’s not a threat or anything, and I wouldn’t go as far as to start something like that.
It’s just something for Google to think about – reputation and trust on the Internet is the real currency… How about some conversation about this Google?
Feel free to comment and tell me that I’m over-reacting, or under-reacting, or for clarity about why this issue makes me so heated.
Ah, that felt good. Other than that, have a good day.
