Digsby responds to claims of shady money-making tactics

Digsby is probably one of the best instant messaging/social networking applications I've ever used. I'll go ahead and put that bias on my sleeve. Not only does the application let you chat with contacts on AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, and Windows Live and Yahoo! Messengers, but it also acts as an email notifier and provides you with updates (and the ability to update your status) on social networks Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn.

But the company behind Digsby has done a few things to annoy users over the past half year or so. The most noticeable change is the installer. It's not unusual to install an application and see an offer to install a browser toolbar or other third party app. But in order to install Digsby for the first time, you have to click through "offers" to install about half a dozen different applications.

I was willing to put up with that, because it's a non-issue once you've installed the software, and hey, Digsby needs to make money, right? But yesterday, Lifehacker shone the light on a much shadier tactic: Hidden away deep in the licensing agreement is a line letting users know that Digsby will use your spare computer cycles to solve distributed computing problems. We first noted this issue back in November, but since it's making the rounds today (CNET's Download.com lowered the ratings score for Digsby as a response), let's take a closer look.

Distributed computing software allows hundreds or thousands of computers to work together to solve problems like finding cures for cancer or search for intelligent life in the universe. In Digsby's case, some of the problems may involve analyzing the stock market, searching the web, and other activities that can help Digsby make money.


Users can opt out of the distributed computing, but you have to click the Help menu item, find the "Support Digsby" option, and then disable "Help Digsby conduct research." It's not exactly intuitive, and while Digsby wrote a blog post about the topic late last year, it's likely that most users didn't know they were opting into sharing their computer cycles and internet bandwidth by clicking the licensing agreement. That's what happens when you hide something at item 15 in the agreement.

This morning Digsby responded to the Lifehacker post. In a nutshell, Digsby plans to keep the bloated offer screens as part of the installer. The team also promises to issue an updated version of Digsby later today that makes it much easier for users to see the Support Disgby section, by moving it out of the "Help" menu. Digsby will also alert users about the Support module in a pop-up window that won't go away until users have read it. That way new or existing users will be sure to see the information about the distributed computing project and have a chance to opt out.

What do you think? Is this good enough? Or are you done with Digsby? Would you rather have a program that does exactly what you want it to, or a company that provides 100% transparency without prompting? Or do you find Pidgin, Miranda, Trillian, or other instant messenger apps to be a better fit for your needs anyway? Sound off in the comments.

Update: I just received a message from Digsby letting me know that the company was already planning on making changes to improve transparency, but decided to step things up after the Lifehacker article stirred things up.

Tags: digsby, distributed-computing, transparency