The mission of this site is to inform the public of unethical or disagreeable use of Internet technology and software and to protest the various software and Internet technology mentioned here at ThiefWare.com. The three main issues we contend with are:

1. The user unknowingly has software installed without their permission. We do not subscribe to the idea that just because a EULA (click for definition) is provided, that the user has actually given permission for the software to be installed. The intent of these bundle installers is to by default install the various ThiefWare. You may at times not be alerted in plain english of what is being installed. If you are alerted of the ThiefWare program installed, you may not fully understand what it will do once it begins running. The EULA may be written in such a way to confuse people so that some do not clearly understand the agreement. It doesn't take too much imagination to figure out that EULA's may be written that way on purpose so that users decide to simply ignor the EULA just to get to the software they want to use. To make matters worse, if you want to remove it, the ThiefWare program is installed in such a way so that some component is left behind in another location. That key component generally re-installs the ThiefWare without your permission just when you think you've removed it. The software can be very invasive and intrusive once it latches onto your computer.
2. There's a privacy issue at stake too from the user's standpoint. These programs may track your surfing habits and send this data back to the server in order to serve up ads. Many of these ThiefWare companies do not readily provide details of what exactly is being transmitted. Because it's an application and not just a simple cookie issue, your privacy could be truly at stake. While Cookies are safe, applications contain active running processes that potentially can monitor everything you do on your computer. Because these companies are willing to go to unethical lengths to run their businesses, we question their trusthworthiness. Will they slyly gather information about us that we don't want leaked out? We don't know what they are willing to do because they are many times not upfront with their intentions and hide behind the EULA. If they were upfront about their intentions, they'd clearly inform you that you are getting adware installed and also inform you that tracking information will be sent from your computer to their servers. These ThiefWare companies know if they were clearly open about their programs, few would willingly download or install their software.
3. Thirdly, (often overlooked by a majority of Web surfers) ThiefWare acts as a parasite to other Web sites and the Web site owner's diligence in creating it. It will locate keywords on a Web site and compare those against the ad and keyword pairs on the ThiefWare company's server and launch the corresponding ad(s). Many ads lead to competitors of the sites you value and enjoy. Normal ads displayed on a site or in the form of pop-ups actually provide financial support to the Web sites viewed. In contrast, ThiefWare companies do not pay for the ad delivery that results from any Web site. ThiefWare ads harm sites by attempting to lead the visitor to a competing site and the originating site loses ad revenue they would normally get for displaying ads connected to their site. Some ThiefWare even cheats affiliate Web site owners out of their commissions by deliberately hijacking tracking methods so that the ThiefWare gets credit for the sale instead of the affiliate who worked hard to make the referral. Affiliates should replace any merchant featured that knowingly has a ThiefWare company as an affiliate. This last point is a major problem for people attempting to generate a living via the Web. Everyone wanting to make a living from the net should be concerned with this 3rd problem—ThiefWare may steal your income.

While ThiefWare companies claim that people agree to install these unethical programs, many times the install procedure makes the installation of such programs almost transparent. When children download programs like KaZaA (a popular mp3 file sharing program), ThiefWare can get installed right along with it. When another unsuspecting family member sees strange looking links, popups, unusual redirects and browser behavior they can only imagine the Web sites displaying these links, ads, or behaviors initiated them. They do not know the true origin. When was the last time you seen an OK button during an installation, and clicked it out of habit? We have been trained to click that OK button. ThiefWare companies realize that too and play on people's downloading habits. We advise you to closely monitor your kid's use of a computer and routinely varify if the child has installed ThiefWare by mistake.

We want users to be informed of the unethical software being pushed onto our computers. Using ThiefWare and supporting the companies that benefit from these unethical or disagreeable programs will cause the very sites that you visit to lose revenue and may cause the demise of your favorite Web resource. If you own a Web site, you very well could be losing customers to competitors that pay to have their ad links or pop-up ad banners launched in connection with your site.

ThiefWare is a larger broader class of software that encompases spyware and some adware that exhibits ThiefWare traits. NOT all adware is ThiefWare and NOT all ThiefWare will be considered Spyware. This may be confusing to some since they are generally accustomed to interchanging these terms with one another. Some forms of adware do not use ThiefWare tactics to serve up ads. We approve of normal benign adware that does not use parasitic ad display tactics. Even some viruses use ThiefWare tactics, but not all viruses are classified as ThiefWare.
In summary:

• All Spyware is ThiefWare
• NOT all ThiefWare will be Spyware
• NOT all adware is ThiefWare
• NOT all Viruses are ThiefWare

Please support the fight against ThiefWare, Spyware and adware that uses ThiefWare tactics. Let other people know about this site. Web site owners are encouraged to link to ThiefWare.com either with a text link or a link badge provided on our site. Site owners can also show support by using our RidText script designed to inform users who have eZula's TopText running on their computers. That same script will also remove TopText links from your Web site should they get overlayed onto your Web pages. Any other type of support is welcome too.

Notes & Disclaimers:
Various comments, reports, and information found on this site (and links to supporting Web sites) are of the opinions from people who believe that the software mentioned is being used for unethical means. As a reader of this site, it is up to you whether or not you agree with the statements made, but we hope that you'll see the thiefware issue as a real threat to Web site owners, a threat to your favorite Web resources, an annoyance to computer users and a possible privacy threat to users in respects to some thiefware.

ThiefWare.com includes factual information and reports along with the editorial content. We hope you find the information, expressed opinions, and reports helpful. We cannot guarantee that all information found here is 100% accurate at all times. Because technology changes, it's difficult to always know how the latest software versions work. It is not ThiefWare.com's intention to mislead people and we will make reasonable efforts to correct inaccuracies when they become known to us.

Much of the software mentioned on this site has not been determined by law as conducting illegal thievery. Of course that may change in the future if/when the court systems decide to take a hard look at the various problems associated with ThiefWare. The word has editorial meaning but does not indicate there is an actual breaking of known laws in all cases. This labeling is being used to express an opinion and is not to be misconstrued and taken as fact that all such software is illegal by law. The majority of the site owners who thoroughly understand ThiefWare and it's methods do not agree with the use of such software. The name ThiefWare is used to denote unethical, unacceptable, or otherwise negative use of software and Internet technology. We do believe that these various programs are thieving from our hard work, acting as parasites of our Web sites.

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