Registration Popup Is Illegal

pcbugfixer

To: The CEO, Legal Department and Senior Management BitDefender.

You currently have a popup which comes up on systems that have BitDefender Software installed on them.

This popup requires (forces) the user to register the product and establish a user account with BitDefender.

There is no freedom or option whereby the user is not required or is forced to register or create an account.

This requirement is in direct contravention of existing Consumer Trades Practices and Privacy Laws in Australia !

I would also suggest that it contravenes similar Laws in other countries !

There exists no precedent in this country where a consumer is required, or can be made to, submit any personal information to register their ownership of the purchased product.

I urge you strongly to remove this popup and change back the Option for registration of the product as being optional i.e. create an Option for "I DO NOT WANT TO REGISTER" or similar, so that the badgering popup does not display anymore.

Unknown

Hello,

the pop-up is a reminder to create an account so that you can have certain advantages. The pop-up can always be closed with a simple click. By not creating an account, our product still works at it's full capabilities.

The advantages for you to use an account are:

It's entirely optional to create an account on our site or not, besides that if you do that there no emails or newsletters that you don't wish to receive.

TMcKeown

So, how do we stop this from popping up? I have a corporate license for 75 users. I don't want to see this popup on every computer. The end user doesn't know the registration info anyway. This popup is very annoying. Please give us a some way to disable it.

alexcrist

Hello TMckeown,

You can make this popup disappear in two ways:

- either register BitDefender online

- either disable the popups from Security Center -> Settings -> Advanced -> Show popups. Note that this will disable all popups, including all notifications (mail scanning, Wi-Fi notifications, and other similar popups). However, the popups that require input from the user (Firewall alerts, Virus Alerts, Registry alerts) will still be displayed.

Cris.

pcbugfixer

G'Day Folks,

After some altercations' with a Junior Help Desk person, I was prompted to send this email to them as the replies where in the same tone of "Cris" the moderator, and that is not the tenure of the issue !

Here is what I sent (to which I have not had a reply BUT THE popups seem to have stoped!

Kindly ensure that every one of my messages is sent to the CEO of BitDefender and respective Senior Management of the Legal, Sales and Marketing Departments!

1. Who ever is advising you to reply to my email messages in this manner, is obviously also ill advised and has little if no understanding of the Laws in this Country and in others with regard to Privacy and Consumer Laws that are in force.

2. One is lead to believe that your reply is one of indifference and arrogance, where you delude yourself in believing that you can flaunt and bypass the legal ramification of the issues I have raised by some punitive gesture of disabling a function and by such action disabling other popup messages that can or may be received through this method and that may be important to the functionality of the program, to which the customer is entitled.

3. You have it in your immediate ability to remove this particular message, yet you fail to comply to meet the requirements of the suggested local consumer and privacy regulatory rules and laws.

Not what I would have recommended, as the consequence of your refusal invites complaints to the respective authorities by customers who are faced with the reality that by disabling the popup function they are denied part of the service which is included in the purchase and formed part of the product functionality and service, besides the contravention of the Privacy and consumer Laws.

4. I would further suggest that your actions outlined by you in your reply(s)does little to enforce any ethical conduct or trust that consumers may have had in your product.

5. As the Agent who recommended these BD products to my clients in the first place and who's concern a I have outlined, in the original, this and other email messages to you regarding the issue of the so called "Reminder popup" message which has also been suggested as deceptive, in that it does not fully disclose the consequence, nor disclose that the action is not compulsory, and in fact does not provide an option to dismiss the need to register, you by such refusal to remedy this issue allow consumers to question your companies ethics and reputation.

6. I would further suggest that a new review of your product and it's suggested ranking be reviewed in light of your refusal to address this specific issue, and instead of wasting my time with you, I will send this and other issues and problems to the respective Reviewers and Editors of PC Authorities and Computer Magazines.

7. I tried it the polite way - now I will use the old fashioned "Hard Ball" way and write a view reviews and press releases, and while I'm at it change my product recommendation.

NB: A simply 5 minute code correction on your part will solve these issues - What the <edited> is you problem ?

pcbugfixer

G'Day again,

The post by "Florin Stiuca" is not correct, in that the modifications made by BitDefender when they introduced the "Registration Reminder" took out the "Create Account Later" and other options not to register, although there were no other options.

Obviously those customers that did register their product, did not receive this popup message !

However if you did not register, then this popup continues to appear every time you re-boot or change users !

alexcrist

After some altercations' with a Junior Help Desk person, I was prompted to send this email to them as the replies where in the same tone of "Cris" the moderator, and that is not the tenure of the issue !

What exactly do you mean by "the replies where in the same tone of "Cris" the moderator"? As far as I'm concerned, I gave you a very specific answer, and not one, but two ways to make that popup disappear.

1. Who ever is advising you to reply to my email messages in this manner, is obviously also ill advised and has little if no understanding of the Laws in this Country and in others with regard to Privacy and Consumer Laws that are in force.

Again... what exactly do you mean by "this manner"?

And in what way BitDefender forces you to do something you don't want?

I've seen tons of other applications that ask the users to register online. My question is... do you send emails to all software vendors that do this?

I don't work for BitDefender (and I'm only a volunteer on this forum), but in my opinion, the fact that BitDefender S.R.L. wants to know how many users use the applications produced by them is a perfectly legit thing to do. Besides, this is a way to prevent software piracy (because users who use the same licenses will be easily identified).

Furthermore, BitDefender doesn't make you register, it only asks you to. As Florin said, the product works at it's full capacity even if you don't register.

Personally, I used BitDefender for about 4 years before I finally created an online account. And I never had any problems.

2. One is lead to believe that your reply is one of indifference and arrogance, where you delude yourself in believing that you can flaunt and bypass the legal ramification of the issues I have raised by some punitive gesture of disabling a function and by such action disabling other popup messages that can or may be received through this method and that may be important to the functionality of the program, to which the customer is entitled.

No, you will not loose any functionality.

As I said, the information sent through these messages is just basic information (for instance, you are notified when an email message is scanned...but you already know that, because emails are scanned only when you send/receive emails).

The important popups are always shown (as I said, all Alerts from the Firewall/Antivirus/Antispy/etc... are always shown).

And, again, I have a hard time to find the indifference in the replies you got on this forum.

3. You have it in your immediate ability to remove this particular message, yet you fail to comply to meet the requirements of the suggested local consumer and privacy regulatory rules and laws.

Not what I would have recommended, as the consequence of your refusal invites complaints to the respective authorities by customers who are faced with the reality that by disabling the popup function they are denied part of the service which is included in the purchase and formed part of the product functionality and service, besides the contravention of the Privacy and consumer Laws.

Frankly, I don't consider what you do a request/suggestion. I consider it a demand, which is a totally different thing.

Let's think about it for a moment, shall we...

You come here demanding that this popup is removed. Why? Because you don't like it. Well...BitDefender is NOT made just for YOU. It's made for millions of other users, and some of those users might actually find this popup useful.

Now... I can't say that it won't be removed, because that is not, in any way, my decision. But if it will be removed, it will be removed from serious reasons (and one user complaining about it is just not sufficient). I know that this is how I'd do it, if it were my decision. *This is only my personal opinion and has nothing to do with the BitDefender company.*

5. As the Agent who recommended these BD products to my clients in the first place and who's concern a I have outlined, in the original, this and other email messages to you regarding the issue of the so called "Reminder popup" message which has also been suggested as deceptive, in that it does not fully disclose the consequence, nor disclose that the action is not compulsory, and in fact does not provide an option to dismiss the need to register, you by such refusal to remedy this issue allow consumers to question your companies ethics and reputation.

Again... Nobody forces anybody to do anything. That is why were talking here about a popup, a reminder, and NOT a fullscreen window that doesn't let you do something else until you register.

Now let's be reasonable. BitDefender had it's reasons to introduce this reminder. It's their right to do so, because it's their product and it's their right to know who uses it.

And considering were talking about a small popup which can be closed by a simple click or even ignored, and it will close by itself in a few seconds, I totally, 100% disagree with your demands, and I cannot find a reason for them.

6. I would further suggest that a new review of your product and it's suggested ranking be reviewed in light of your refusal to address this specific issue, and instead of wasting my time with you, I will send this and other issues and problems to the respective Reviewers and Editors of PC Authorities and Computer Magazines.

As far as I know... the reviews are made to reflect a product's performances in what they do. In this case, BitDefender should protect your computer. By showing that popup, your security is not affected in any way, so I don't know what you will accomplish by sending this "complaint" to reviewers.

And about the "other issues and problems"... Why don't you post all of them here, instead of insisting with, probably, the least significant "problem"? Maybe the other issues you have with BitDefender are, indeed, problems that deserve the immediate attention from the developers (in which case, they will be addressed as soon as possible).

7. I tried it the polite way - now I will use the old fashioned "Hard Ball" way and write a view reviews and press releases, and while I'm at it change my product recommendation.

Well... this really doesn't seem like "polite way" to me. It looks somehow like blackmail.

NB: A simply 5 minute code correction on your part will solve these issues - What the <edited> is you problem ?

The problem is that there are many things that could be done in 5 minutes. But sum up all of them, and you end up with a longer period than a lifetime.

It's a matter of priority.

Oh...and using this type of words on the forum won't get you the "fix" you want. But it might get you a Warning!

G'Day again,

The post by "Florin Stiuca" is not correct, in that the modifications made by BitDefender when they introduced the "Registration Reminder" took out the "Create Account Later" and other options not to register, although there were no other options.

Obviously those customers that did register their product, did not receive this popup message !

However if you did not register, then this popup continues to appear every time you re-boot or change users !

Wrong again.

What exactly stops you from pressing Cancel at the step where you are asked to create an account? My guess is that that option was removed because it was useless and redundant.

Cris.

pcbugfixer

Cris you must not take things so personally - and get your facts straight before you reply!

I repeat the main issues:

Quote:

What exactly stops you from pressing Cancel at the step where you are asked to create an account? My guess is that that option was removed because it was useless and redundant.

Answer: This did not stop the registration reminder popup !

Quote:

I've seen tons of other applications that ask the users to register online. My question is... do you send emails to all software vendors that do this?

Answer: I don't have to as they have option where you can opt out of registering and they don't ask you continuously with badgering popups.

Quote:

No, you will not loose any functionality.

Answer: Crap you don't, Disabling the popup does prevent other messages from being received as I pointed out and referred to "..... that by disabling the popup function they are denied part of the service which is included in the purchase and formed part of the product functionality and service, ... " I I don't care if it is only one message that they might miss, as they are entitled to the full functionality of the product that they purchased and the services under which auspices it was sold!

Quote:

What exactly do you mean by "the replies where in the same tone of "Cris" the moderator"? As far as I'm concerned, I gave you a very specific answer, and not one, but two ways to make that popup disappear.

Answer: this did not address the issue of the badgering popup it evaded it instead and as pointed out above it also removed part of the products service.

Quote:

Furthermore, BitDefender doesn't make you register, it only asks you to. As Florin said, the product works at it's full capacity even if you don't register.

Answer:

Yup it works OK and you in the circumstance where you did not register, you just put up with the popup reminder - do you know how annoying that becomes - like I said other vendors do not force you do register in order to get rid of reminder popup nor should BitDefender when Consumer laws prevent such obligatory suggested registrations.

Quote:

Again... what exactly do you mean by "this manner"?

Answer:

When you get fobbed off and the issue is not correctly addressed, then the manner of the reply is evading the issue and is not tolerated when matters of Consumer and Privacy Laws are involved.

Quote:

And in what way BitDefender forces you to do something you don't want?

Answer: This obviously escaped you ability to understand the intent and method implemented by the "Registration Reminder" and the removal of other options that then either forced you to create an account thereby registering and or asked you to remove services that you are entitled to - not good which ever way you look at it and not the way an International Company should run a Business – hence we have Consumer and Privacy Laws to protect us from any attempted breaches thereof.

As far as the rest of your answers, I can clearly see that protecting your privacy and consumer rights is of no importance to you, where on the other hand it is important to my customers and myself. So you do what you want and I will continue to prevent companies who attempt to infringe in any manner on the protection provided to my customers and myself by Law.

If we don’t nip these thing in the bud when they start, then the precedence for further intrusions are set in place, and that is just not on!

You have a nice day now you hear, and don't worry you little head about issues that you appear do not understand, and at the tender age of 19 you have guts but need to have a better and broader understanding of the bigger issue.

BTW. This remark "Oh...and using this type of words on the forum won't get you the "fix" you want. But it might get you a Warning! the implied " using this type of words" and "But might get you a Warning" is suggesting to me that you are abusing you Honorary position as a Moderator and I suggest that you don't even try to imply any such words in your replies to me again.

But I had fun reading your feisty replies. " />

alexcrist

I have just two things two say to you:

1) BitDefender doesn't compromise anyone's privacy. The data requested for registration is not made public under any circumstances. That data is confidential, and will remain on BitDefender server. Also, all data needed to register is your name and your country. If the registration procedure was asking for more important things, like your address, telephone number, credit card number, or whatever, I would have understood your concerns.

2)

other vendors do not force you do register in order to get rid of reminder popup

Let's take the small and insignificant example of Microsoft Windows. It has to be registered and activated online. Other wise, even if you bought it, you can only use it for 30 days, after which it will be blocked. Maybe I'm crazy, but this really seems like a much more restrictive system than the one BitDefender has. Did you also send e-mails at Microsoft to "ask" them to remove the activation? My guess: NOT

And the examples could go on and on...

Oh...and I asked you nicely that you stop using words like

Crap you don't

This is the second time I tell you to stop. There won't be a third!

Cris.

P.S.: You keep insisting that this is illegal. Since when is illegal assuring that the users have a legally registered copy of BitDefender (and they don't just use a cracked copy)??

alexcrist

Well...I must say. I am impressed.

Nice touch, attacking me in PM. Well... the PM (which, for whatever reason, you sent twice) will be forwarded to Florin. He works for BitDefender and he will decide if your actions have a good reason. I stand back, and this is my last intervention about this matter.

Oh... and my job here is to make sure the forum stays clean. When you start using dirty words, I don't care who you are. End of story.

Cris.

pcbugfixer

Cris, That’s overstepping your mark as a Moderator,

Quote:

P.S.: You keep insisting that this is illegal. Since when is illegal assuring that the users have a legally registered copy of BitDefender (and they don't just use a cracked copy)??

By this remark you are suggesting that my customers having purchased their BD product from me are using an illegal copy that I sold to them illegally !

To the contrary, all of my sales are generated by BD who issue the Product keys and are duly recorded on the invoice issued to the customer as proof of ownership and payment.

This I find personally offensive and do not ask but demand an immediate withdrawal of your comment and an apology! for suggesting and making the remark specifically made in reply to any one of my posts on and in this Forum Topic.!

and pass that on to Florin as well !!

" /> " />

g4hlf

Hi pcbugfixer.

I am new to this forum but having just read this thread I feel compelled to say what I suspect many others want to say........

You sound an absolute Pratt.

Regards,

Paul

Cris, That’s overstepping your mark as a Moderator,

Quote:

P.S.: You keep insisting that this is illegal. Since when is illegal assuring that the users have a legally registered copy of BitDefender (and they don't just use a cracked copy)??

By this remark you are suggesting that my customers having purchased their BD product from me are using an illegal copy that I sold to them illegally !

To the contrary, all of my sales are generated by BD who issue the Product keys and are duly recorded on the invoice issued to the customer as proof of ownership and payment.

This I find personally offensive and do not ask but demand an immediate withdrawal of your comment and an apology! for suggesting and making the remark specifically made in reply to any one of my posts on and in this Forum Topic.!

and pass that on to Florin as well !!

" /> " />