BonziBuddy was seemingly everywhere around the year 2000. It was a free “virtual assistant” program that could talk, tell jokes, and help you browse the web! Turned out it was also spyware and violated COPPA. Join me in LGR Tech Tales, looking at stories of technological inspiration, failure, and everything in-between!
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● Music used in order of appearance:
“Nautical 2” by Loscil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpjlqXaC6ys
“Anekbah Theme”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmdgZkWgfUE
Downtown Alley 1, Particle Emission 2, Smooth Deal
http://www.epidemicsound.com
“Twin Shine”
https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music
● Sources for this episode’s info:
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/54282-bonzi-buddy-creator-settles-suit
https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cases/2004/09/040901agree0423016.pdf
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=51324423
https://www.howtogeek.com/321720/a-brief-history-of-bonzibuddy-the-internets-most-friendly-malware/
https://web.archive.org/web/20130728114544/https://www.spywareinfoforum.com/topic/8508-bonzi-buddy/
http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/1551941
http://web.archive.org/web/20030606143945/http://internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/2212851
https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cases/2004/09/040901exibaf0423016.pdf
http://www.spywareguide.com/product_show.php?id=512
http://malware.wikia.com/wiki/BonziBUDDY
https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1120341
http://www.agentland.com/Download/Intelligent_Agent/143.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20000302100932/http://www.e-clips.com.au:80/default.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20010728065108/http://www.microsoft.com/products/msagent/
https://books.google.com/books?id=hjoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://www.ipromote.com/technologies/
http://msagentring.org/press/msagentbeta.htm
https://books.google.com/books?id=OxkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT5#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://web.archive.org/web/19991013004552/http://bonzi.com:80/bonzibuddy/bonzibuddyfree.asp
https://web.archive.org/web/20000520070541/http://www.bonzi.com:80/BonziBUDDY/BonziBUDDYFREE.asp
https://web.archive.org/web/20031206095758/http://www.bonzi.com:80/bonzibuddy/bonzibuddyfree.asp
https://books.google.com/books?id=qxIpLj9BmV8C&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://web.stanford.edu/dept/news/pr/95/950106Arc5423.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20000303224817/http://www.angelfire.com:80/il2/sunfire/index.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=zquOXulD67IC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://web.archive.org/web/19961020041727/http://www.bonzi.com:80/
https://web.archive.org/web/19981202050249/http://msagentring.org/