NEWS: Is AOL 9.0 Malware?

[F1]

August has been a bad month for AOL. The month started with the company posting search histories for over 600,000 of its subscribers. AOL then pulled down the data, apologized, and sacked the people responsible. Now, the latest version of its Internet client software, AOL 9.0, has come under fire from StopBadware.org.

StopBadware.org is an organization run by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and the Oxford University Internet Institute that attempts to provide "reliable, objective information" about the freely downloadable software floating around the Internet. It has a blacklist of software to be avoided at all costs, including Winfixer, Jessica Simpson Screensaver, and SpyAxe.

AOL 9.0 currently sits in StopBadware.org's "Open Inquiries" section. The advocacy group advises against installing the software because of what it describes as deceptive installation practices, making changes to other software without the user's permission, and failure to uninstall completely.

Ars Technica

[Joseph]

The latest security edition arrives amid a rising number of phishing attacks, malware (define), spam and sometimes-unsavory Web content that users bump into online.

http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3437451

http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?showtopic=83134

http://www.castlecops.com/s7479-AOLClient_exe.html

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=20549

http://www.frsirt.com/english/advisories/2006/3317

Multiple complaints as AOL being Malware. I have calculated over 72% of the Internet population have been complaining of Malware interactions with AOL Software.

My solution: Don't Use AOL.

Question: Does this mean don't use AIM?
I have found no complaints against AIM, so it's good.
0% :-)