The Prodigal Incredimail Returns To Google Ads

Incredimail, like the proverbial prodigal son, has seen the errors of its ways and promised to be a good son. Google has killed the fatted calf. Incredimail's now back into the fold.

Incredimail users are breathing a sigh of relief. Investors seem be breathing a sigh of relief - but they should be wary of this foreign-based company whose revenue comes mostly from advertising - not from the sale of its products.

Adsense ads are once again showing up in the Incredimail (free version) interface and on Incredimail's web sites. The ads are generating income again and all is well again. Or is it?

Investors have a right to be edgy. Reliable financial reports say that Google Adsense revenue accounts for 85% of Incredimail's revenue. Companies who have great products can sell those products in the free and open market - and that's how they make money. Good products sell and bad products don't. If you can't your products you either go out of business, create better products ---- or rely on Google ads? Incredimail, the adware company that claims it isn't, relies on Google ads for most its income. Something is missing here. Something isn't right.

Investors have lots of reasons to be nervous. Want another? Why did it take Incredimail two days to inform investors that Google had yanked its ads? Incredimail has been silent about the reasons behind this brouhaha. Silence breeds suspicion. Since its the investors' money and Google ads that we now know keep Incredimail afloat, you'd think they would at least be more honest with their investors than they are with their users, but so far, not a word from Incredimail.

Incredimail went public with a prospectus full of pretty promises but they've yet to release a single product that they've been able to sell successfully. A vast majority of Incredimail users opt for the "free" adware - excuse me - the ad-supported version of it - and live with the ads. Incredimail sales can't be very good. According to several reports, up to 85% of their revenue comes from Google ads. That's Incredible, Incredimail. It makes me glad they don't have any of my money.

Incredimail has always been slippery enough enough to avoid being classified as "adware" or "tracking software". But, actually that's a matter of semantics. The free version is supported by ads and that makes it adware. Its privacy policy clearly states that by using it you give Incredimail the key to any data on your computer it decides to glean and that makes it tracking software. You can argue about semantics until hell freezes over but Incredimail's so-called "free" version is adware and tracking software.

Advertising is very important to Incredimail. Recent reports claim that as much as 85% of Incredimail's revenue is derived from Google ads. If that is true, only 15% of its revenue comes from sales of their products. Sales must not be very good. If their products were as good as they claim why do they have give it away as adware? They're certainly not giving away Incredimail because they are philanthropic. They are giving it away because they are making a lot of money by being adware. I wonder what they do with the information they collect from users' computers? Sell it?

What was Incredimail doing that was so nefarious that Google decided to take such drastic action. Don't you wonder? You have to be a little curious.

If you're an Incredimail-lover don't be illogical; don't give me the old David and Goliath (ho-hum) comparison: Big, powerful Google picking on poor, little, innocent Incredimail. Google had no reason to pick on Incredimail. Incredimail is just one of millions of companies and web sites who use Adsense.

Here's our take and it's based on fact:

Fact #1: The free version of Incredimail is adware - Incredimail says it's not. Yet, it displays advertising in its user Interface and inserts an advertisement at the bottom of every email users send with it. Indeed the person sending the email cannot see the ad, but the recipient can.

Fact #2: Every person who installs Incredimail is bound by their privacy policy - including this clause:

"...CONSENT TO PROCESSING
Users, including without limitation, Users in the European Union, fully understand and unambiguously consent to the collection and processing of their personally identifiable and non-personally identifiable information, in the United States. ..."

What exactly is "Personally identifiable" information? What type of processing is done with this personally identifiable information? If you're an Incredimail user, you should be asking these kinds of questions.

What really happened between Google and Incredimail? Incredimail isn't saying. Why doesn't Incredimail tell us? If they had nothing to hide don't you think they'd have made a statement of some kind by now?

Incredimail investors and users should be demanding an honest explanation. Given Incredimail's reputation and history, we don't think you'll ever get one .

Incredimail Ditched By Google

Maureen asks how the recent news concerning Google's banning of Incredimail will affect her
"I have been using IncrediMail and am a bit worried with the news that Google disabled all their ads with them for "spyware bombing" and violation of Google's terms of service. What is a spyware bomb? Thanks, Maureen.

Our Answer
Many of you have read that Google has banned Incredimail from its Adsense program. The multi-million dollar, publicly-traded company Incredimail and maker of adware "Incredimail" - relies on Google ads for 85% of their income many sources say. While the full story has not yet been revealed, speculation about Incredimail's alleged scurrilous activities include charges of spyware bombing. While this remains speculation, it comes from many reliable sources.

Spyware Bombing is spyware that is downloaded and installed to a computer remotely without notification to the user. As we've warned users many times, when you allow a program to access your computer remotely all the time (like Incredimail) your computer becomes vulnerable to furtive activities - such as installing new, potentially unwanted programs under the guise of "updates". Incredimail has always required an open connection between your computer and Incredimail's servers - this open connection is essentially a conduit - a pipe through which anything can be pumped from a server to your computer. Whether it's an update or a new program - it can be installed without your knowledge and while you're not even using your computer.

We pointed out, long ago that Incredimail's privacy policy was one of the very worst we've ever seen and nothing has changed in its privacy policy since we wrote about it in this article.

Is it legal for Incredimail to install software (as updates or anything else they decide you should have) on your computer without your knowledge? It sure is. Why? Because by installing Incredimail you LEGALLY agree to their privacy policy, End User License Agreement, and Terms of Use. To us the most incredible thing about Incredimail is that they can get people to install it and thereby agree to their shocking Privacy Policy which states (this is verbatim):

"...CONSENT TO PROCESSING
Users, including without limitation, Users in the European Union, fully understand and unambiguously consent to the collection and processing of their personally identifiable and non-personally identifiable information, in the United States. ..."

That anyone would agree to the "unambiguous" collection of their personally identifiable information astonishes us. Yet, apparently, tens of thousands have traded their "personally identifiable information" for an E-mail program that sends stationery. Whether Incredimail users know it or not, they are legally bound by to this (and Incredimail's EULA and Terms of Use). They can collect from you what you will; they can install software on your computer without your knowledge as they wish; you gave them permission (legally) to do it - and you have no remedy under the law no matter what.

Perhaps Google has become the first big company to actually see through Incredimail's smoke screen - and if so, we feel pretty darn good, we were the very first to see through it. Are they spyware bombing? We don't know, but we know if Google bans you, you are doing something very bad.

If Incredimail ever recovers from the loss of 85% of its revenue, let's hope they come back as a company that cares about its users as much as it does its bottom line. Their ludicrous privacy policy remains one of the worse we've ever seen and shows not one bit of concern their users' privacy.

Note: There are literally hundreds of news stories about Google banning Incredimail from its Adsense program. You can start with this article - there are many, many more. It's big news because Incredimail is a publicly-traded company and and stockholders have a right to know what the company is up to. An 85% drop in gross revenue would put most small caps out of business. We'll see what happens in the coming months.

Stay tuned. Maybe it won't be too long before we can tell you - "See? We told you so!"