Fantapper, an adware?
“We call it Fantapper. It lets you dig deep into so much information about your favorite celebrities from wherever you are on the web. Simply hover over any image or text where you see the Fantapper logo and start digging.” That’s how the Fantapper website describes what it is.
Anyway, this post is not about promoting Fantapper.
About a week ago I installed Fantapper extension on my Firefox browser. Unfortunately, I didn’t know I shouldn’t have. Today, I noticed something odd with YouTube when viewed on Firefox. Guess what. There were ads below the video information area, on the footer and on the sidebar. YouTube has been implementing many ads lately but those include only an in-player type and a 300×250 ad next to the video player. The ads present are not even the kind that Google usually serves. Plus, they’re not through adsense and they refresh.
Fantapper ads on Youtube
To figure out what could be the cause of this ad-invasion, I checked on my Firefox extensions. Through a short trial and error, I was able to figure out that the culprit was the Fantapper add-on. I enabled and disabled it many times just to make sure I wasn’t making a false accusation/assumption. But the bottomline is “I was not mistaken.” The Fantapper add-on was the culprit.
It pays to read a site’s TOS. Here’s an except from Fantapper TOS located at http://web.brandaffinity.net/terms/Fantapper_Website_Terms.pdf related to the topic in this post:
Third Party Content, Advertising or Services
This Site and the Fantapper Platform may provide third party content, advertisement and services, and links thereto (e.g., links to third party websites), that are owned or operated by third parties or user generated (collectively, Third Party Content & Services”). As a user of the Fantapper Platform, you may be presented with Third Party Content & Services within web pages rendered by your browser when the Fantapper Platform is enabled, that are independent of and not endorsed by, related to or controlled by, the respective owners and/or operators of such web pages. Third Party Content & Services are not endorsed or controlled by us and BAT assumes no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any Third Party Content & Services. Clicking on a link to a third party website may cause you to leave this Site or the Fantapper platform. If you access a third party website via the Fantapper Platform, you do so at your own risk, and you understand that these Terms of Use and BAT’s Privacy Policy do not apply to your use of such sites. You should review the applicable terms of use and policies, including privacy policies, of any third party website. Some Third Party Content & Services may be inaccurate, offensive, indecent or objectionable. We disclaim any liability for Third Party Content & Services. You expressly relieve BAT from any and all liability arising from your use of any Third Party Content & Services. Additionally, your dealings with or participation in promotions of advertisers found on this Site or presented by your browser with the Fantapper Platform enabled, including payment and delivery of goods, and any other terms (such as warranties) are solely between you and such advertisers. You agree that BAT shall not beresponsible for any loss or damage of any sort relating to your dealings with such advertisers.
I wonder if the big G is aware of this. Question: is the Fantapper add-on an adware or not? I’d say, “It is an adware in disguise.”
PS: This is just my opinion.
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