Feb 24 2005

What were they thinking?

Published by Martin at 6:08 am under General

Adware maker joins federal privacy board | CNET News.com

D. Reed Freeman, an executive of Claria has been named as a member of the Homeland Security privacy board. Just in case you don’t know who Claria is, try the name Gator. The were one of the first of the pop-up, pop-under ad companies, probably best known for their inclusion with the free version of Kazaa.

I would agree that Claria, as a company, is an expert in privacy. But their expertise is on how to compromise your privacy, not protect it. This is like hiring a hacker to secure your network. On the other hand, there will be nineteen other members of the board, so hopefully the impact of Claria will be fairly minor. I just don’t see how a company as small as Claria fits in with the likes of IBM, Oracle and Intel. At least Microsoft doesn’t have a representative. Yet.

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2 Responses to “What were they thinking?”

  1. # Axelon 24 Feb 2005 at 6:58 am

    The obvious replies go in two directions:
    1. What makes you think they were thinking?
    2. It makes perfect sense for the DHS to have someone on board who knows how to compromise security. After all, only if everybody will be under surveillance constantly security can be guaranteed. Can you say “1984″? I knew you could! :-) God bless America, the Land of the Free.

  2. # JRB Technologyon 24 Feb 2005 at 9:06 am

    Spyware maker appointed to Homeland Security

    The Spyware maker “Gator” has been appointed as a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s privacy advisory board.

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