One year ago Google and Dell closed a deal under which Dell installed several Google tools, including its Google Toolbar and Google Desktop Search, on shipped computers. Dell also set Google as the default search engine in Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer.
Among the tools the companies didn't mention last year is a browser redirector that sends users who mistype a URL or enter a nonexistent address to a Dell-branded page loaded with Google ads.
On normal PCs, Google searches would land at a normal Google page with a few sponsored links at the top (and sides) and real Google results below that.
Some are calling this tactic by Dell (and Google, by association) an act of "spyware" since results differ entirely on Dell PCs and non-Dell PCs when the same consumer mistake happens.
What is the deal here? Is Dell trying to scrounge some extra cash by having its customers click on ads they probably never asked for? Of course, customers have to be using Internet Explorer (pre-installed on a Dell PC) for this to happen.
The culprit here is a "browser redirector" that sends customers mistyping a website address (or typing one that does not exist at all) to a Dell-branded page loaded with Google ads.
Dell has a right to do this, although the practice seems a little sneaky and not in the best interest of the consumer. If a website address is mistyped, the customer should be told that -- not blanketed with ads that were never asked for in the first place.
Is this a bad customer practice? By many measures, yes. One wonders if Google knows about this, and how "don't be evil" figures into this situation.
