Yahoo Gives Claria’s Gator The Bite
Yahoo strengthened its newest toolbar with anti-spyware application so it will detect pop-up advertising software and other forms of spyware. One of the software companies that Yahoo is protecting its toolbar users from is an old ally; Claria, formerly known as Gator.
The final anti-spyware Yahoo toolbar now treats Claria’s Gator adware the same as other annoying software.
But why has Yahoo turned against Gator? Claria is one of Overture’s largest partners and delivers a large amount of revenue to Yahoo.
“We listened to the feedback we received from our users during the beta period, and have made a few minor modifications to Anti-Spy,” Yahoo spokesman Aaron Ferstman wrote in an e-mail to CNet.
CNet Reports:
“Yahoo subsidiary Overture Services has had an agreement with Claria since 2002 to provide keyword-related text ads to users of Claria’s GAIN (Gator Advertising and Information Network) technology. The way it works is that Overture’s ads appear on GAIN’s pop-up windows, called Search Scout, which are triggered when users type in search queries on sites including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft’s MSN and others.”
The Yahoo toolbar also in addition to act as a spyware detector, includes a box for conducting a Web Search through Yahoo, a pop-up window blocker and shortcuts to services such as Yahoo! Mail and Favorites.
