WEB MEDIA SCHOOL session - 99 - MS FIX Microsoft's Smart Tags
Microsoft has come along with a "brilliant" idea. They want to piggyback their own selected content on top of your work. The idea is to have their products (such as Internet Explorer and the Office suite) scan web pages and documents for keywords and phrases known to Microsoft. Any of these that are found would be underlined with a special purple "squiggle" to show that they are "smart tags".
Anyone viewing the page could then click on the smart tag and be transported to a Microsoft web site for more information. For example, you could write a web page about the Grand Canyon, and the phrase "Grand Canyon" could be underlined, allowing your visitors to check out the Expedia.Com page about how to book travel to the area.
Microsoft suddenly would have at their disposal every single document viewed with a new Microsoft product as a potential advertisement.
You could be looking at a newspaper site, reading an article about train travel, and click on numerous links to Microsoft sites (and presumably third party sites which paid Microsoft for the privilege) selling train related products and services. If you read a classified ad on that same newspaper site selling an automobile, the word "Cadillac" could be underlined with a smart tag linking to a Cadillac dealer.
The tags are added dynamically to web pages by the browser without the permission of the person who created the pages Most people would consider this highly unethical.
Carefully crafted web pages would be randomly covered with trash by a company intent on siphoning away visitors to their own sites and pages. And what about the problem of inappropriate content? Another problem is that Smart Tags are "opt-out". This means the tags are inserted unless you (the webmaster or the user) indicate that you do not want them. Opt-Out is the preferred method of removal for many advertisers because they understand that most people will not bother to remove themselves from the list. Opt-in is the preferred method of most consumers because then they receive only what they have requested. Webmasters can keep smart tags from working on their site by including a special "opt-out" metatag in the header of each and every page. I highly recommend that all webmasters include this tag to prevent smart tags from operating.
<meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="TRUE">
"As a result of smart tags in beta versions of Windows XP and IE, we received lots of feedback, and have realized that there is a need to better balance the user experience with the legitimate concerns of content providers and web sites," Microsoft said in a statement on June 28th, 2001. Keep an eye on Microsoft, however, because they also added, "Microsoft remains committed to this type of technology, and will work closely with content providers and partners in the industry in the coming months to further refine how it can be used." Richard Lowe Jr. http://www.internet-tips.net
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