is apple's safari web browser "spyware"?

[waiting_for_OSX]

Safari has an integrated google search toolbar.
Is this spyware? Read about it at this URL:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149...099TX1K0100488

[edX]

sounds like it could be for pc users. i don't see any indications that i'm using their ranking service with safari, so i'm not reporting anything but what i use their service for and who my isp is. big deal.

once more it seems that macs are safer than pc's to use. what a surprize

[Giaguara]

That is in pc world.

If you send a bug report in safari attaching to it the source code and screenshot, isn't that more 'against your privacy?'

[toast]

The rumor is :

Basically, the e-mail accused Google of disseminating spyware. Google, the message said, was using its Toolbar application to collect reams of information about the surfing habits of the world's PC users.

Not only is IBM PC the only platform concerned, but the rumor has not yet been verified by tangible evidence.

[lurk]

It really frightens my how sensational and reactionary people can be... This is exactly the same thing as those scare ads you see saying Did you know your computer is broadcasting your IP address right now? Yep on every single packet...

The page rank Google displays has to come from somewhere so when you visit a site the toolbar asks the pagerank server at Google "What is the rank of this page?" which then sends back the reply. This is the same as any other web type transaction. You are making a request of the server and the server is logging that request.


Now did you know that Scott is logging every post you read on MacOSX.com! He can use your IP address to identify you even if you are just lurking!! And through the magic of referrer logs he even know that you came here from www.kittyporn.com !!!! The Horror... The Horrer...


The google toolbar is not spyware in any way shape or form it clearly informs you that when you turn on the page rank feature that it was to send info back to google (namely to identify the page you want ranked) for it to work. Does it send that information for every page you visit? Darn tootin' it does -- you asked it to by turning on the page rank feature, remember?

Move along there is nothing to see here...

-Eric

P.S. The www.kittyporn.com link does have some naughty words on it but the pictures should be SFW everywhere but pet stores.

[cellfish]

Actually, one of the bigger reasons I switched to a Mac is because just about every free download on the PC is spyware. I was actually even worried that Ad-Aware, the program that removes spyware, had spyware in itself. Despite the fact that the platform has some amazing software, you never know what you're getting into.

As a result, I came to a platform that'S virtually free of spies and virii.

[Ricky]

Um? Am I missing something here?
Not once is Safari mentioned in the whole article.

[waiting_for_OSX]

That's right, no one could write the same spyware toolbar for OS X that's being distributed for Windows. A program like that just can't run on OS X, because OS X was written by saints and angels.

ha ha ha

How hard is it to imagine that Apple, who's stock is way down, would strike a spyware deal with Google?

Prove to me scientifically that Safari's "Google toolbar" is not spyware.