Q and A: Does the SEO toolbar pose a privacy risk?

Dear Kalena...

My XoftSpy has been turning up "SEO Toolbar", three hits, and says they constitute "moderate risk." Should I remove them?

Peter

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Peter

I am assuming that XoftSpy is anti-spyware software of some kind? I've not heard of the SEO Toolbar, is it part of a search engine marketing software package you bought recently? If so, it might collect information about your search history in order to personalize your use of the software. This is fairly standard procedure for toolbar plug-ins (e.g. the Google Toolbar does it). This might be considered a moderate privacy threat by XoftSpy, hence the warning.

If you are concerned about what type of information the toolbar manufacturers are collecting about you, I suggest you write to the software manufacturer and ask them to clarify. Then you can make an informed decision about whether to remove or keep the toolbar.

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