On Sat, 9 Mar 2002, Geoffrey Duke wrote:

> A test of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 browser showed that data on
> searches conducted from IE's search page is sent directly to the
> designated search site and is not intercepted by Microsoft.
>
> "This is yet another example of a product phoning home. It's a sleazy
> practice," said Smith.

It is indeed a sleazy practice, and unfortunately far too common.  While
IE6 may not "phone home" in this case, Microsoft certainly does their
share of this too.  Whenever you play a CD or DVD with Microsoft's
players, the title and track of the CDs are searched for on MSN.com, and a
unique identified of your system, and what CD/DVD you were viewing is
logged.

There are countless cases of this type of practice throughout the computer
industry.  Hopefully someday it will stop.

mga.