Exploiting Defaults: The Case of Apple’s Software Update

April 15th, 2008 admin Posted in Applications | Comments Off

People often defer to defaults. Developers can take advantage of this behavior. In March 2008, Apple’s Software Update tool included a default for installing Safari.A succinct explanation of the issues can be found by John Lily, the CEO of Mozilla

The problem here is that it lists Safari for getting an update — and has the “Install” box checked by default — even if you haven’t ever installed Safari on your PC.

That’s a problem because of the dynamic I described above — by and large, all software makers are trying to get users to trust us on updates, and so the likely behavior here is for users to just click “Install 2 items,” which means that they’ve now installed a completely new piece of software, quite possibly completely unintentionally. Apple has made it incredibly easy — the default, even — for users to install ride along software that they didn’t ask for, and maybe didn’t want. This is wrong, and borders on malware distribution practices.

It’s wrong because it undermines the trust that we’re all trying to build with users. Because it means that an update isn’t just an update, but is maybe something more. Because it ultimately undermines the safety of users on the web by eroding that relationship. It’s a bad practice and should stop.

John Gruber points out that this controversy could have been avoided if the checkbox for Safari were off by default.Photo from CNET