Back Off, Adware Firms

ADWARE COMPANIES HAVE LONG COMPLAINED about software removal firms deleting their ad-serving programs. The companies argue that consumers have chosen to download the programs, which serve pop-up ads based on Web-surfing behavior, and that software removal companies shouldn't interfere in that decision. To listen to some of the companies talk, you'd think software removal programs sneak onto consumers' hard drives, hijack their systems and then delete all traces of adware when no one's looking.

Now, the adware company Direct Revenue has joined the chorus of voices calling for software removal programs to be reined in. Direct Revenue CEO Jean Maheu recently told OnlineMediaDaily that his company's end-user license agreement warns consumers that the company might intervene should a software removal company try to stop Direct Revenue from serving pop-ups.

Doing so would be a very bad idea.

If adware companies agree that consumers have the right to delete any unwanted programs, what difference can it make whether they do so manually or through a software removal program?

The only answer that makes sense is that software removal programs are more efficient than consumers at deleting adware--which, of course, is precisely why consumers purchase software removal tools.

Adware companies also should remember that, in other contexts, they have defended their business model by championing the idea that consumers ultimately control their hard drives. When adware companies came under fire from publishers who argued that pop-ups unfairly competed with their ads, one of the adware companies' responses was that consumers, not publishers, own their desktops. If consumers chose to receive pop-ups, they argued, publishers had no place interfering.

But, by the same token, if consumers choose to use software removal programs to delete adware, the adware companies should back off from any attempts to stop that process.