[opallaser]

Microsoft have seen fit to add a new feature to IE 6 and future versions of office for XP and are calling it smart tags.

Here is an article regarding this new feature.

I for one find it sickening.

[opallaser]

Thought i'd highlight some points :

Walter Mossberg charges that extending the smart tags to Internet Explorer 6 effectively gives Microsoft the ability to edit any page on the web without the author's knowledge. SiliconValley.com's Dan Gillmor is concerned that smart tags may be amenable nefarious uses, such as covert user tracking.

Worse, smart tags, can be executable code. The compelling ones, like the Lexis-Nexis smart tag I described earlier, almost all are. That means a smart tag presents the same security risks that an ActiveX control does; they can be spyware, trojan horses or even destructive virii

Even if smart tags don't violate copyright or deceptive trade laws, they still violate the integrity of the web. Part of the appeal of the web is that it allows anyone to publish anything, to take their thoughts, feelings and opinions and put them before the world with no censors or marketroids in the way. By adding smart tags to web pages, Microsoft is interposing itself between authors and their audience.

Worse, Microsoft's decisions may be at odds with the intent of the site's author or developer. If an Internet Explorer 6 user visits Travelocity and looks at a page with information on visiting Nice, France, the smart tag that aggravated Thurrott will link the word 'Nice' to Microsoft's Expedia site. With smart tags, Microsoft is able to insert their ads right into competitors' sites.

Microsoft has extended the hyperlink, and rather than using xLinks, the W3C's proposed extended linking model, they've gone off in their own direction—a direction that limits the most useful functionality (anything beyond what could be accomplished with an ordinary hyperlink) to those created using Windows-only technology. Smart tags aren't about empowering the user. They are about turning the web into yet another proprietary platform for Microsoft to dominate.

[iCartman]

Microsoft isn't using SmartTags in XP anymore:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/20033.html

[dogzilla]

Isn't there a metatag to disable smart tags anyway?

[pcp_ip]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1"face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial">code:</font><HR><pre><font size=1 face=courier>&lt;META name=<font color = red>"MSSmartTagsPreventParsing"</font> content=<font color = red>"<font color = purple>TRUE</font>"</font>&gt;</font>[/code]

they say that does it...
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