• by May 17, 2004

All I wanted was a buddy icon.

Instead, I got caught in a seemingly endless loop of chaos and pop-up windows.

I generally like AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), and find it useful to communicate with colleagues in the office and a couple of people outside of MediaPost with whom I have regular contact. I find the buddy icons people use sort of cute, and they take the edge off the deadline pressure sometimes. So I decided to look for a buddy icon of my own.

I went out to the Web to find a buddy icon. I was told that I'd find the widest selection of icons to choose from. So I went to Google, entered "AIM Buddy Icons" and several pages of results appeared. I though I'd get to peruse a list of assorted icons. Instead, I was met with a strange, legal-looking authentification agreement from an entity called GAIN Publishing.

GAIN Publishing, otherwise known as Claria Corp. The agreement, in fine print, was so dense, I had difficulty understanding it. And if I had difficulty with it, how many other people on the Web fail to understand these pop-up windows requesting their permission--"yes" or "no"--to accept pop-up ads and promotional offers in exchange for the content they request?

The average consumer has no idea what "GAIN Publishing" is. If I didn't work for a publication that covers the online media world, I wouldn't know what "GAIN Publishing" is. Even with disclosure statements, it is a murky situation.

I kept trying to get access to the buddy icon site, and other sites like it, with no luck because I refused to click "yes" on the pop-up windows. For an experiment, I could, of course, agree to accept ads.

Another site I chose to search for buddy icons delivered a pop-up window with "Security Warning" emblazoned on it. I was asked: "Do you want to install and run free online and special offers from Addictive Technologies & Partners? Get cash back on your online purchases from Shop at Home." I clicked "yes" and was directed to the Addictive Technologies privacy policy. At least I understood the proposition on that one.

If my experience is any indication of what consumers experience on the Web, it's a sad state of affairs.

And by the way, I never did choose a buddy icon.