To my Customers and Visitors:

I'd like to bring to your attention an issue that has the potential to affect the entire Web community. There's a new form of technology that alters web pages without the knowledge or permission of website owners.

Three of the most widespread versions of this technology are programs called TopText, Surf+ and Gator.  

TopText comes bundled with the popular file-sharing programs KaZaa & iMesh, as well as several other freeware programs.

Surf+ bundles adware and spyware and adds green underlines and highlights to words on web pages.

Gator, the popular password organizer, now overlays banner ads on top of the banners the web owner has given permission to place on his site (without notification or permission of the website owner).

If you use Internet Explorer (ver. 4.x and above) and you've noticed yellow underlines with green edges or green underlines with yellow highlights showing up on a lot of the pages that you visit, you have installed (intentionally or otherwise) the TopText or Surf+ application.

These underlines are not the work of the people who created the pages you are visiting, but are added when TopText or Surf+ alters your browser settings without your knowledge. If you click on one of these links, you'll be taken to the website of an advertiser who paid the makers of TopText (eZula, Inc.) or Surf+ for the link and to have it inserted on an unsuspecting web owner's page.

The owner of the website you were visiting is usually unaware of the intrusive link placed on his site and most certainly will feel it is a copyright infringement.

Both of these companies spew propaganda that they are offering the web surfer a heightened browsing experience. In truth, what they provide is an unethical form of advertising which they receive financial reward for.

These links are NOT contextual, in that they won't usually take you to a site similar to the one your are currently visiting. It has also been reported that some of these links may even take you to a pornographic or gambling site with graphics and pop up windows which are difficult to close.

(At this time, neither TopText or Surf+ work with Netscape or Opera browsers! I strongly suggest that you use another browser, Netscape, Opera or any other non Microsoft product. It is only Microsoft software that allows this type of intrusion on a web page, at this time. In addition, bundled in these packages are various other spyware applications which you are probably completely unaware of.  If you do not use Internet Explorer you are presently safe from these insidious programs)

The increasing availability and use of these type programs raise a number of concerns. For example, the page that the link leads to may not be appropriate for children, or for that matter may be an adult oriented site that is set to collect information.

Furthermore, altered links may be introduced into shopping cart links, product recommendations, editorials, online legal documents and posts to online forums, adding confusion and potentially misleading you, the user. You could discover that you purchased something from an entirely different site than you intended or made online comments in a different and potentially unsafe forum.

Although these links specifically effect my own business, perhaps the most frightening concern TopText, Surf+, Gator and similar applications raise is that they may spell an end to the free Web for everyone.

The reason: A huge percentage of the Web's most popular sites owe their very existence to advertising dollars. These aren't commercial sites with a product to sell, but resources offering information. Information you may want or need. TopText steals those dollars away from them without any compensation and, therefore, limits the free resource site's ability to continue providing information.

While we may be annoyed sometimes by pop up ads and banners on these free sites, these are what sustain them and allow them to continue offering all of us both interesting, valuable and useful information.

If this technology is allowed to spread, free sites will be forced to charge fees for their use. And this will dramatically limit the number of people who will be able to afford to use the Internet as a resource - and - because there will be fewer users and fewer ethical advertisements, there will be fewer and fewer informational web sites.

You can help the cause by signing the petition against this type of spyware advertising here: http://www.petitiononline.com/toptext/

Make no mistake, this isn't "relevant contextual information" brought to you by a company interested in your overall browsing experience, this is a company (and, most especially, their advertisers) whose sole desire is to line their pockets at the expense of ethical web sites offering both products and information.

I have already decided that if this technology is not controlled and my website, against my wishes and desires, turns into an advertisement for unethical advertisers, I will take down my site(s) and offer my work in more traditional settings. My assumption is that many small companies may also find this necessary because maintaining a web site takes considerable time, effort and financial outlay.

If you enjoy the convenience that shopping on the Internet provides, the variety that is otherwise not available, and the educational and informative resources available day or night, then consider this technology carefully and decide if this is something you wish to combat.

If you're an artist who is concerned about copyright infringement, a website owner or maintainer concerned about loss of business, or a consumer appalled by these invasive programs on your system and would like more information on the fight to stop TopText, see the link below:
http://gethighforums.com/Forum28/HTML/000021.html