Thomas Spura wrote:
I don't think it's spyware, if it's enabled by default on
the server
side, do you? e.g. sourceforge does the same with their statistics
counter (or any other web counter online).
No, extracting download statistics from web server logs isn't spyware. Spyware
is software that runs on a user's computer and, without the user's explicit
permission, sends out data that otherwise wouldn't have left the user's
computer.
It can be considered unethical to publish or sell detailed information about
individual users' activities even if no spyware was involved in gathering the
information, but I don't think anyone thinks a download count is a problem.
Björn Persson