One of the more controversial "technologies" that Microsoft has
added to their XP products, along with their abominable product activation
scheme, is what they call "Smart Tags". Essentially, this allows
Microsoft programs like Office XP and Internet Explorer 6 and beyond to
go through a loaded web page, find references to certain words, and make
them links to pre-selected web sites. For example, it finds instances
of "Microsoft" and turns them into links to their corporate website.
Essentially, this allows Microsoft and allied companies to automatically vandalize any website out there by creating non-paid advertising links without the permission of the website's author. This is wrong because, by modifying an pre-existing work without permission, it violates copyright law. This is also wrong because this gives Microsoft advertising that the website's author is not compensated for in any way. It also steals away visitors to the website by drawing them towards the websites of Microsoft and its allies by way of these links.
Furthermore, website authors have to "opt-out" of smart links by adding a meta tag (shown below) to each and every one of their pages. A website can consist of from one page to hundreds, depending on the size of the site and the amount of content. Studio Stormfalcon as a whole (including the ESLF, AMS, and Fanime2K1 subsites) is made up of dozens of webpages, for example. This is hard, tedious work that the web author should not have to go through to avoid having Microsoft and its cronies vandalize their pages. Web authors should have total control over the links on their site, and Smart Tags steal that control away from them.
Currently, Microsoft has temporarily backed down from Smart Tags. They still remain in Office XP, but final releases of Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6 will not have them. However, Smart Tags will return in future versions of these and other Microsoft products, you can be sure of that. Especially when Microsoft's flacks said that the reason was because the technology "wasn't ready yet".
What can web authors do to stop Smart Tags from infesting their websites? Here's the meta tag to insert into the <head>...</head> portion of the HTML:
<meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="TRUE">
Also, be sure to state proudly that your sites are Smart Tag free! The more this gets around and public awareness is raised over the issue, the worse this so-called "technology" will look. I also provide for free use by web authors everywhere the use of this banner for that purpose:
The only condition I have for use of this banner is that the website is indeed free of Smart Tags. Good luck in the fight against this form of vandalism!
Special thanks go to Joseph Palmer for getting the word out regarding Smart Tags.