George Preston

Leicester, UK

Student

IMHO, there is a fine line between web-based targeted advertising, which google has given a "friendly" image to, along with making bundles of cash; and local software - it seems that once something is actually on the machine of a user, there is a stigma attached to it (created by Gator and the like) which screams of intrusion. It's a similar issue with Digital Rights Management; consumers understand that, for example, Amazon will provide limited samples of some of it's tracks on CDs, and online streaming is poor quality...but the second those limitations are placed on a file once it's on a user's hard drive, it becomes invasdion of privacy. It's just the pyschological factor of "what on my hard disk is mine and i'll do I want I want" which prevails.