Since the very first version of Civil Netizen, we have been certified by Softpedia to be completely free of spyware, adware, or viruses. Unfortunately, the folks at Spybot Search and Destroy mistakenly categorized Civil Netizen as spyware, causing trouble for some users. One reviewer on BetaNews complained that he could not install Civil Netizen since Spybot is blocking the process. (Update: The good folks at BetaNews is kind enough to remove the misleading comment that implied that Civil Netizen has spyware.) We just sent an e-mail to Spybot with the hope that they can correct this error. (Update: Team Spybot has fixed the error. Thanks!)

We hate spyware. Our corporate home page at www.civilengines.com is a manifesto against not just spyware, but the business model of relying on third-party payers (i.e. advertisers) to fund web-based services. Advertising is really easy money. Adding Google Adsense or a banner ad to a web page takes 10 minutes. A lot of our competitors have chosen to embrace the advertisers. We are focused on you—our end-users. Please continue to use (and abuse) our software and services. When it breaks, tell us. We will fix it. And we will all be better for it.