Good info, Ellick, and quite timely as well. Maybe others on the list have seen
today's news. Netscape (AOL) has been sued for the very acitivity you enunciate
in your msg. The court rulled in _our_ direction. They found Net_shit to be
in violation of the law by engaging in the practice of "spying" while
performing as a "download manager". Hey, power to the people, right on!
Craig
Ellick Chan wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Aug 2000, Carver, Paul, NLSOP wrote:
>
> > Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 09:32:01 -0400
> > From: "Carver, Paul, NLSOP" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: RE: [expert] Download managers !
> >
> > What is a Download manager? I wasn't aware that downloading files was
> > complex. FTP is pretty much a universal standard and there are plenty of
> > Linux/Unix clients. Can you be more specific about what special features a
> > Download manager provides?
> >
>
> A download manager is usually implemented as a cheap any easy form of
> "spy-ware" on Mac and Win platforms. they claim to be free, and bloat up
> your operating system. I've had my suspicions that they probably track
> your web-viewing habits, and such, as they tightly integrate with your
> browser.
>
> What a download manager is supposed to do is support the FTP/HTTP resume
> functionalities. Generally, this is done to let users of lesser operating
> systems avoid re-downloading a large file after a connection is
> broken. They make it in a way to feel idiot-proof.
>
> Wget, a perfectly free program for *nix does essentially the same thing,
> but does not require X or a GUI. It also has no ads, banners, and the
> such, as well as consuming a tiny fraction of the memory and CPU that
> download managers for Win/Mac require.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Ellick Chan
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Aug 10
