Note that many websites have their own advertising, unrelated to adware.
Adware is any software application in which advertising is displayed while the program is running. The authors of these applications include additional code that delivers the ads, which can be viewed through pop-up windows or through a bar that appears on a computer screen and sometimes through text links or in integrated search results. Adware may or may not track personal information. It may also gather information anonymously or in aggregate only. Users should check the EULA and Privacy policy to ensure if the adware on their machines conforms to their standards.
Official
Description:
A toolbar plugin for IE that allows you to perform searches.
Comment:
From their own pages:
In the course of using the Downloadable Toolbar, the Downloadable Toolbar automatically records certain information about your use of the Downloadable Toolbar and the Internet: time and date of login; duration of session; URL hits during session; advertisements served during the session via the Downloadable Toolbar; software add-ons installed via the Downloadable Toolbar; when you send a message sent via the Downloadable Toolbar, the time you send the message and the recipient's user name or email address. This information enables us to catalog traffic patterns and other usage statistics, which helps us better tailor our services to the needs of our users.
Dogpile writes to us "The toolbar is not designed to collect user information, email addresses, or other personal information. There never has been any login information. It does not monitor the user's activity. The only information that is collected is what is collected by the webservers
serving the Dogpile site. That includes basic information collected by all webserves such as browser type, ip address, time, url requested. The
site does some basic reporting functions such as number of users visiting different areas. This information is not associated with any personally identifiable users and it used by us to know which services are popular and which are not. The toolbar does not hijack anyone's browser. The only settings changed are homepage, search, and autosearch and only when the user chooses those options. The user is free to change those settings and we don't try to interfere with that. The toolbar has a very simple uninstall function that does not leave hidden applications
behind."
This is the revised privacy policy.
http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/tbar/privacy.htm
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