Rhonda Bracey: At Random

More on the ‘clean up the laptop’ saga… I came across something called “Viewpoint Media Player” in my Add/Remove Programs list and had no clue what it was, so off to Google again, where I found this brilliant piece about Viewpoint Media PLayer by Joe User (great domain name!) and his efforts to remove it. In amongst his diatribe about this piece of software—tell us what you REALLY think, Joe!—was this:

Here is my privacy policy: I do not want any type of crap on my computer unless I specifically OK it. I do not want anything installed without my permission. I don’t want some poorly programmed piece of crap crashing my computer, changing my bookmarks and homepage, and making itself part of the operating system so I can’t delete it without instructions from the internet. I do not want programs that record what I am doing. I don’t want programs accessing the internet at random intervals to send data to its home servers. I don’t care if “At no point is the CUID connected to a user’s name, email address, or other personal contact information”. I don’t freaking believe what is written in the privacy policy (which I didn’t even get a chance to read since it installed without my knowledge), nor do I trust your abilities to safeguard my personal data even if you are telling the truth.

When can you install something on my computer? If you get within arms length distance of my computer and can install it before I cave your head in with a baseball bat, then I will allow it.

Couldn’t agree more!