Avenue A | Razorfish

While browsing the web the other evening, I decided to go back to a few old links that I had not had the spare time to visit for while. I soon noticed that Spybot S&D kept popping up a notice to inform me that "Avenue A.Inc" (now called Avenue A | Razorfish) had been blocked from being downloaded to my machine from some of these trusted old favorites. The first occurrence was while going to About.com.

I shrugged it off for a while, until I went to a site that I used to particularly enjoy, "How Stuff Works", and lo and behold, up pops the S&D window again, telling me that this thing Avenue A.Inc was trying to foist itself on me again. To my understanding, How Stuff Works had been originally intended to be a web site of enlightenment, as its name implies, and yet here it was trying to sneak a piece of spyware crap onto my computer....

A Google search revealed a link to http://www.avenuea.com/ where the following information was posted:

"Avenue A is the interactive agency that helps leading marketers get closer to their customers. Since 1997, we've used our online advertising expertise and Internet marketing insights to deliver brilliant results for clients.
Let us prove it."

Avenue-A, now called Avenue A | Razorfish, like a chameleon, loves to change its name frequently and also the name and methods of its spyware, and the format of its website-- as if they are in reality ashamed of what they foist on the public, as they should be, despite their claims to have pride in their dishonest work. Their website has changed drastically from the last time I had the unpleasant visit there. The link listing their customers is not as up front and easy to find as it used to be, I finally found it here: http://www.avenuea-razorfish.com/sampleClients.htm. Here's the list of clients that they currently have listed under the term "Sample Clients + Work":

The emboldened companies are highlighted only because they either surprised me, or in a few cases, did not surprise me at all. Microsoft, for example. In my humble opinion their whole product is part and parcel of spyware. I have often wondered how they were able to keep the government from breaking them up a while back; do you suppose there may have been a 'deal' made there, considering how much interest the government is taking in snooping on us all lately?.... 'nuff said.

I then decided to see what was on their Privacy Page. It's a 'popup' window, so I didn't include the link; you'll find it at the foot of the above url in small, faint letters.

Last updated February 1, 2005
Avenue A | Razorfish and its parent company aQuantive Inc., recognizes the importance of Internet user privacy. For that reason, we try to keep you informed of our privacy practices through this Web site.

The responsible use of cookies and Web beacons play an important role in the services Avenue A | Razorfish provide to its clients so they can better serve you, their customers. Avenue A | Razorfish uses cookie and Web beacon technology provided by Atlas, a division of aQuantive, for planning, serving, analyzing and managing online campaigns and setting Atlas cookies on behalf of our clients.

There was a link in Avenue A | Razorfish's Privacy Policy popup directing anyone who wants to "opt out" to go to http://www.atlassolutions.com/. I went there, read more of their hype than I cared to, clicked 5 likely links and found no "opt out" link, just more hype, so I gave up. I tire of these blatantly dishonest and purposefully misleading places quickly these days, and besides that, the last time I tested their opt out crap I found that it was also tracking me, and as soon as the old Avenue-A thing was modified it quit working anyway.

I think I'll stick with Spybot S&D. Keep the SpyBot database updated regularly, use the quarantine feature, and you will be about as safe as you can be while using a Microsoft product. Or better yet, do as I have done, and switch to Debian Linux, or maybe Ubuntu, or one of the many other free operating systems under Linux. It takes a little time and work to use Linux, but it's is a very pleasant relief to be able to see exactly what your computer is running, using an open source OS. That's impossible, with Microsoft's secret policies.