By Bill Pytlovany
Verizon and Others Prey on Consumer Ignorance
Many of my readers know I’m not a fan of software added to a downloads if you don’t read one of the setup screens and uncheck the option. This behavior has been accepted as a legitimate business practice even when the parasitic program blocks attempts at removal.
Large, well known companies like Oracle and Adobe commonly add browsers, toolbars, download managers even to required security updates. They receive a royalty on every successful installation which depends completely on users not paying attention.
Unwanted downloads isn’t the only business with growth projections that take advantage of consumer ignorance. A number of company’s have established their business on providing ringtone services that we never signed up for. The only way I found out we were unwilling subscribers was by taking the time to read our phone bill. Over $20 was added to our bill for a services I had never heard of. It turned out to be a subscription so if I hadn’t found it we would have continued to have it on every monthly bill. Reviewing old Verizon Wireless bills I discovered that we had been charged every month since last year.
This post is excerpted with Bill’s permission from his blog
