RealPlayer is badware

Posted by Maxim Weinstein Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:00:00 GMT

StopBadware has released an alert identifying RealPlayer as badware. See our press release here and the complete alert here.

Interestingly, RealPlayer 10.5 and RealPlayer 11, both of which are distributed widely, both violate our badware guidelines, but in different ways.

RealPlayer 10.5 is badware because it doesn’t tell the user that its “Message Center” feature will pop up ads from the system tray if the user doesn’t register the application.

RealPlayer 11 is badware because it installs the Rhapsody Player Engine without notifying the user. When the user uninstalls RealPlayer, Rhapsody Player Engine is left behind, unless the user also knows to uninstall it separately.

RealNetworks, Inc., the publisher of RealPlayer, has been upfront about these behaviors in our conversations with them. They point out that version 11 does not install the ad-serving Message Center by default, and they acknowledge that it was a mistake on their part to not offer to uninstall Rhapsody Player Engine when uninstalling RealPlayer 11. We expect that the next version of RealPlayer will correct the issue and provide better disclosure, and we encourage RealNetworks to work with their downstream partners to ensure that older versions are replaced by the new version.