November 18th, 2005
AOL Gives You Some New AIM Friends, Automatically
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
I know that some people say that they could never possibly have too many friends, but most want to pick their own. In a move that reminds me of certain other companies dropping things on our PCs without telling us (ahem), AOL dropped two “robotic buddies” into AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) buddy lists yesterday.
The bots will send preprogrammed responses to questions. Users can send an instant message to their new ShoppingBuddy for gift ideas and ask Moviefone about show times.
That the services may be helpful wasn’t enough to assuage some AIM fans. Blogs and message boards were filled with complaints from users who called the move an “intrusion” and “uncool.”
“The first thing I did was delete them,” said one post on 925m.com, a community site for advertising professionals. “I don’t need some ’shopping buddy’ to automatically add themselves and promote buying over their network. Someone missed the ethics boat on this one.” Source: News.com
We Say: Fortunately, AOL didn’t make them undeletable or anything. However, it might have been better to make it an opt-in service. Considering recent events with Sony BMG, at the very least this was ill-timed.
David Johnston says:
Yeah, that was really annoying. It happened to my account two or three days ago. Very annoying. I don’t like AIM’s privacy policy at all and I’d much rather use something like Skype. It’s too bad that AIM has the huge userbase so you’re practically forced to use it if you want to IM people.
November 18th, 2005 at 10:36 am
Kent says:
WAY too much ado about nothing.
First of all, they are just pointers to apps running at AOL. They aren’t even code installed on your machine. Just 2 new buddies you don’t have to use at all, if you don’t want.
Secondly. AIM is a free service. I haven’t given money to AOL since I was a QLink customer back in the 80’s. So I’m going to expect that they will try to do other things to generate revenue. Something this innocuous, is pretty damn insignificant.
November 18th, 2005 at 10:52 am
Dominika says:
Sure, it’s free, etc. etc. But why do it now, when people are hypersensitive after the Sony problems? Are you’re doing is asking for negative PR, which is what they have gotten. And also, why not make it opt-in? Sure, it’s no REAL big deal, but it’s still annoying.
November 18th, 2005 at 1:42 pm
Kent says:
I just don’t see what it is you’re protesting.
They haven’t put anything on your computer at all. Just 2 new entries in your phone book. That’s it.
Do I plan on using then? No.
Did I already delete them? Yes.
Do I think they were totally pointless? Pretty much
Do I think they are a vast conspiracy. Or something truly nefarious? Good god no. Calm down already people.
Ya don’t wanna talk to the bots, there’s an easy solution. Just don’t.
Equating this to anything like what Sony did, is ill-informed, and just causes hysteria. Of all the computer based panic attacks, this one isn’t even on the list. I’d run out of paper LONG before I got to this.
November 18th, 2005 at 3:44 pm
Bruce says:
I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m protesting a lack of control over my own buddy list. OK so it was just a couple of harmless entries in the phonebook, but most people don’t let just anyone add people to their private phone books! If we accept these, what will AOL do to our buddy list next?
Those of us in full command of our PCs simply delete them, but the less aware might easily misinterpret them. I wonder how many kids got in trouble for adding forbidden contacts to their IM lists?
The point is, who has control over your contacts, you or AOL?
November 18th, 2005 at 4:45 pm
Kent says:
AOL does. But hey, it’s their free service, we’re all just freeloaders on it. At least that’s one corporate fiew of things.
When you accept free services, etc, you implicitly lose control over some facets.
And like I said. I’m mostly amused/offended/disturbed by the people that compare this to the Sony Rootkitting. Like the editor did. The 2 incidents are not alike. Not at all.
November 18th, 2005 at 4:53 pm
JongoBongo says:
I agree with Kent. The bottom line is that AIM is a free service. It’s like when I give my employees their end of year bonus and they complain that they want more. It’s a friggin BONUS! It’s over and above what you had before, which was nothing. Same with AIM…go write your own software that does what AIM does and see what it costs you.
November 19th, 2005 at 12:13 pm
Michael Santo says:
Actually, it wasn’t a comparison to the actual act. What I was saying was that since other companies (Sony) have gotten into hot water by doing stuff without users’ knowledge, don’t you think people would take the safer option and try to not get anyone angry? It’s not that big a deal, but why stir the pot?
December 2nd, 2005 at 1:48 pm
david says:
i think that they are not as goog as they think but they know your name so thats cool and everyone can just say they are good becauase they think they are the best in the world so im # 1 and beter than all of you peaCE!
December 16th, 2005 at 3:41 pm
michael says:
how come aol gives us only two and how can we get more aim bots
January 1st, 2006 at 11:53 pm
liza says:
the only good one is zola…….but HEY she is now retired!!!!!
February 15th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
Matt says:
It’s so funny when you get a group of people togethor online who are bored enough to debate something pointless just for the sake of argueing…
truely it would be a great reality show… ^_^
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June 27th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Keith says:
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July 20th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Aggie says:
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July 20th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
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May 30th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
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May 30th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
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June 8th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
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September 4th, 2008 at 7:30 pm