AOL adds WeatherBug to AIM

just to be clear, WeatherBug is NOT spyware.

Folks, Ad-aware and Spybot, the 2 most well known anti-spyware programs, along with pest patrol, webwasher, spysweeper, spystopper, bulletproof, etc. don’t call WeatherBug spyware because we are not.

I am aware that the rumor is out there and occasionally legitimate sources have picked up the rumor- whether it was started by a competitor or just misinformation, I don’t know.

I do know that we do NOT track websurfing habits or ‘spy’ on our user base. WeatherBug is incapable of tracking your overall web use or deciphering anything on your hard drive, nor can it determine what you were doing before you opened your WeatherBug program or after you closed it. Any software program that is implying or reporting that WeatherBug is ‘spyware’, or “data-miner” is incorrect.
Our formal spyware policy can be found at:

http://ww3.weatherbug.com/aws/defaultx.asp?cid=306 not only will you get our full statement but you’ll see we offer FREE DOWNLOADS to some of the most popular anti-spyware programs out there.

WeatherBug and its parent company, AWS, own the world’s largest weather network. We take pride in providing critical weather information & life-saving weather alerts to millions of consumers, thousands of schools, dozens of major businesses, over one hundred television stations and emergency response departments across the country.

In fact, during the installation, unlike this very forum, you DON’T have to enter a valid email address. All we require is a ZIP code so you get your local weather.

Thanks for allowing me the chance to correct some misperceptions, and please feel free to send any questions to me personally at jay@weatherbug.com

THANKS!

The freeware version (whats being installed) comes with ads. Thats adware in my mind regardless of the technicalities. I honestly wouldn’t mind the program if it didn’t have the ads, ugly system tray icon and cluttered interface// but it does. And how exactly is AIM “integrating” the software, besides including it in the install?

in regards to the question about MySearch, yes, WeatherBug offers MySearch as an opt-out piece of software- and the window that pops up during installation clearly identifies and requires the user to click NEXT to proceed with the download.

As for advertising on WeatherBug- we are in the final beta testing of version 6.0 which will have a totally different look and feel – however, for those of you running 5.03, you should be prompted to select a sponsor when downloading- that sponsor’s ads will ‘wrap’ your main screen for 3 days- then the next 27 days you get are ad-free! (this is for the free version obviously- we also offer an ad-free version with other features for 19.95 a year).

The maximum # of pop-unders you should get in a 24 hour period is 4- 1 when you first maximize the screen, 1 when you first minimize and then no more than 2 additional ones in the next 24 hours. Any pops from us clearly state they are coming from WeatherBug- lots of folks mistake any pop-under as being from us when they aren’t- we all have surfed enough to realize you get those fun Expedia games when you visit ESPN.com, but lots of folks don’t realize that many sites serve pops- our program is designed to only serve a max of 4 per 24 hours- and most folks don’t run the program 24/7 so it should be less than that.

Thanks again for allowing me to clarify- the people on this message board I know have heard the FALSE rumors about us and spyware- I can tell you that we aggressively are fighting these rumors and as always- if you have questions- please feel free to contact me at jay@weatherbug.com

Thanks!
Jay
Manager, Customer support team
WeatherBug