Claria/Ezone.com - Installation Screenshots
Claria's Misleading Installation Methods - Ezone.com - Ben
Edelman
All screenshots were captured in April 2005.
[ Ezone Home | A Games Page Promoting Claria | Claria Install Prompt | License Agreemeent | Promoting Claria at Songs Sites & Other Cartoon Games Sites ]
Notice Ezone promoting Claria via a banner ad that looks like a Windows message box.
If a user responds to a Claria banner ad, Claria causes this on-screen display. Pressing Yes once causes the installation of Claria software. Note that Claria never discloses tracking, transmitting, or storing information about what web sites users visit. Notice that a user can press Yes and receive Claria software without first being shown a Claria license agreement.
Claria Shows License Agreement
If a user clicks Yes in the prior screen, Claria shows this on-screen display. Claria here shows the first section of its license agreement. But if a user presses X to close the license window, Claria software nonetheless becomes installed -- notwithstanding that the "X" is ordinarily a button to cancel or terminate an installation procedure. Note also the extreme length of the license (as reflected by the small size of the scroll bar nub at the top of the license window, just right of center).
Lyrics Download Promoting Claria
Ezone is not the only site that promotes Claria while offering content largely of interest to youth. See the image below, showing Lyrics Download promoting Claria's Web Secure Alert. Here again, Claria's banner ad looks like a Windows message box.
Ezone is not the only site that promotes Claria while offering content largely of interest to youth. See the image below, showing The Kidz Page promoting Claria's clock synchronization software. Here again, Claria's banner ad looks like a Windows message box. Note also the cartoon-style games and characters, seemingly particularly appealing to children and youth. Noet also the "for children" mention in the title bar and in the "What's New?" description at page center.
Clicking on the "Advertise on thekidzpage.com" box (top-right) leads to an AdBrite page which describes the site as "for kids and adults ... family and students ... school-aged children along with the 'grown-ups' who supervise them."
Ezone is not the only site that promotes Claria while offering content largely of interest to youth. See the image below, showing Fingertime Games promoting Claria's clock synchronization software. Here again, Claria's banner ad looks like a Windows message box. Note also the cartoon-style games at Fingertime ("lunar mouse house" etc.), seemingly particularly appealing to children and youth.
Fingertime Games - DashBar/PrecisionTime Confirmation
When users click on the Claria banner ad within the Fingertime site, they are shown this web page. Its mention of "DashBar" is the only allusion to a toolbar that users are shown before the toolbar begins to be installed.
Fingertime Games - DashBar Toolbar Installed
The Claria DashBar toolbar, as subsequently installed within a user's web browser, notwithstanding Claria's failure to mention the word "toolbar" before users (purportedly) consent to the installation of such toolbar.
