Badware Alert: Uniscope Toolbars (MySpace Guardian, Amber Alert Toolbar, BizRate Bar)

StopBadware.org released a badware alert about the Uniscope Toolbars today. These toolbars are produced and distributed by RPM Performance Media, and include variants such as “MySpace Guardian”, “Amber Alert Toolbar”, and “BizRate Bar” :

We find that the Uniscope Toolbars are badware because they fail to inform users that the software will function as adware by inserting sponsored websites into search engine webpages when users search for particular keywords, and because the software fails to identify itself as the source of these advertisements.

We attempted to contact RPM Performance Media through the contact options provided on their website, but we received only an automated response acknowledging our communications.

We currently recommend that users do not install MySpace Guardian, Amber Alert Toolbar, BizRate bar, or other Uniscope Toolbars, unless users are comfortable with the behaviors we identify in our alert, or until the applications are updated to be consistent with the recommendations made in our alert.