RealPlayer Follow-Up Report

Posted by Brandon Palmen Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:15:00 GMT

Public response to StopBadware’s recent RealPlayer alert has generally been positive, and we are pleased to hear that RealNetworks plans to correct some of the behaviors which we identified in the alert in a future RealPlayer release.

Nonetheless, we are a little confused by the reported comments of RealNetworks’ PR Manager, Ryan Lukin, whose words may have the potential to mislead consumers regarding the undisclosed features of RealPlayer 10.5 and RealPlayer 11. According to CNET News, Lukin claims that the Message Center software that is bundled with RealPlayer is “clearly identified during installation”, and that the content served by this software does not qualify as advertising. Lukin also implies that all users are provided with the opportunity to opt out of these ‘messages’ by the RealPlayer 10.5 installer. In our experience, the advertising features of the message center are not adequately disclosed, and only users who submit their personal information to RealNetworks during the registration stage of the RealPlayer 10.5 installation are actually granted the opportunity to opt out of the pop-up advertisements; users who exit the registration must accept the message center’s default settings, which include the display of pop-up advertisements for third-party products and offers.

Our alerts describe the ways in which software applications violate our software guidelines, but they do not always fully depict the behavior of those applications. This can make it difficult for some users to understand the conclusions that we draw in these alerts. In order to better illustrate our reasons for applying the ‘badware’ label to RealPlayer, we are now releasing a follow-up report, replete with screenshots, to the public. We hope that you will find it informative.

The RealPlayer follow-up report can be found here and the original alert can be viewed here.